Charles Barcza has announced the release of blackPanther OS 10.1, a Hungarian desktop Linux distribution built from components and concepts borrowed from several major distribution projects. The new version is built on Linux kernel 2.6.32.2 and includes X.Org Server 1.7.3, Mozilla Firefox 3.5.6, OpenOffice.org 3.1.1, GIMP 2.7.0, KDE 4.3.1 and other popular applications. Some of the notable changes include: EasyInstall - an installation routine which ensures that even older and less powerful hardware is set up correctly; DisplayController - a program whose function is to bring up a graphical subsystem under any circumstances; DesktopSelector - an application that provides new users with an option to choose a preferred desktop environment based on visual impressions; MyInfo-Tool - a graphical hardware information program.... See the rest of the release announcement (in Hungarian) for further details and screenshots. Download the live CD image from here: blackPantherOS_v10.1.1.iso (700MB, MD5).

Stefan Lippers-Hollmann has announced the release of sidux 2009-04, a desktop distribution with KDE and Xfce based on Debian's unstable branch: "We now have the pleasure to announce the immediate availability of sidux 2009-04 'Moros', shipping with Linux kernel 2.6.32 and KDE 4.3.4. For 'Moros', the development concentrated on updating the bootloader infrastructure for live and installed systems, but also took into account upstream changes like kernel 2.6.32, KDE 4.3.4 and further KDE 4 applications. On the installed system, GRUB 2 now replaces the traditional GRUB bootloader, while the live system now employs isolinux and an improved gfxboot theme. Kernel 2.6.32 doesn't only improve and stabilise hardware support for newer devices, it also allows KMS for Intel graphic chipsets and supports DRI and basic 3D support for ATI Radeon graphics cards." See the detailed release notes for more information. Download (SHA256): sidux-2009-04-kde-i386-amd64.iso (2,134MB), sidux-2009-04-xfce-i386.iso (492MB), sidux-2009-04-xfce-amd64.iso (500MB).

Thierry Nuttens has announced the release of NuTyX 2009.2, a Gentoo-based French Linux distribution with binary packages for four desktop environments: GNOME, KDE, LXDE and Xfce. According to the release announcement, this version has had over 900 commits, mostly package upgrades and dependency updates, but also some bug fixes. There is a new theme that is now a common feature across all the different desktop environments. An alternative kernel, supporting more than 4 GB of RAM, is now included in the distribution. Some of the package upgrades include: ALSA 1.0.22, Amarok 2.2.1.90, Firefox 3.5.6, GNOME 2.28, KDE 4.3.4, Linux kernel 2.6.32.2, K3b 1.69.0alpha4, LXDE 0.5.0, Midori 0.2.1 and X.Org Server 1.7.3. Read the release announcement (in French) for more details and screenshots of the new theme. Download: NuTyX_i686-2009.2-LXDE.iso (300MB, MD5), NuTyX_i686-2009.1-XFCE.iso (481MB, MD5), NuTyX_i686-2009.2-GNOME.iso (594MB, MD5), NuTyX_i686-2009.2-KDE.iso (626MB, MD5).

Linux Deepin 9.12 has been released. The new version of the Ubuntu-based Chinese community distribution, formerly known as Hiweed Linux, comes with the following features: a careful selection of lightweight, easy-to-use and optimised software packages; usability enhancements of desktop start menu and file manager right-click menus; inclusion of popular software for day-to-day use, including OpenOffice.org; customised system installer with only two steps that need manual intervention; streamlined post-install configuration; various enhancements in Mozilla Firefox, such as replacement of rarely-used search engines with more popular ones, addition of several pre-configured add-ons, Flash Player 10 and multimedia plugins; graphical configuration tool for ADSL (PPPoE) and other high-speed and mobile Internet providers.... Read the detailed release notes (in Chinese) for additional information. Download: Deepin-9.12-final.iso (628MB, MD5, torrent).

Super OS is a Linux distribution that can be described as an Ubuntu enhanced with various extra software and features for improved out-of-the-box usability. Version 9.10, announced a few hours ago, adds the following applications and features: "Better multimedia support - VLC, support for DVD-playback, support for MP3 and other media formats, like QuickTime video, Real video, Windows Media Video, Flash Video, DivX, Xvid; Internet software - aMSN, Opera, Google Chrome, Skype, Firefox with Flash and Moonlight; portable applications available (RUNZ included); programs are easier to run - App Runner is included; mount tar.gz, .zip, .rar and .iso files with file mounter; other software - Java, Ubuntu Tweak; system beep is disabled; Super OS now has its own repository, in addition to the official Ubuntu repositories; most commonly used KDE and Qt libraries included." Read the release notes for further details. Download: Super_OS_9.10.iso (1,076MB, MD5).

Mehdi Magnon has announced the release of Sabily 9.10, an Ubuntu-based distribution with Islamic software and web content filtering tools: "The Sabily team is proud to announce the release of Sabily 9.10. New in this release: Noor - new Quran browser; sample books for Thwab; Fsool - the Sira of the prophet Mohammed; Rejaal - men around the prophet Mohammed; Arabeyes Qamoos - and Arabic - English dictionary. Changes: new theme; new structure of Islamic software; Monajat is re-developed in Python. Main features: parental control tool (WebStrict); Zekr (Quran study tool), able to play Quran recitations; prayer times - Minbar and Firefox Pray Times add-on; Thwab (encyclopaedia); custom artwork; full support for Arabic; the DVD edition contains multimedia, scientific and educational software." More details in the release announcement. Download: sabily_9.10_small.iso (1,035MB, MD5).

Chris Buechler has announced the availability of the first beta release of pfSense 2.0, a FreeBSD-based firewall system: "Our Christmas gift to the community is the 2.0 release reaching the beta milestone. The release is feature complete, with no new features being added, and should stay relatively stable throughout the remainder of the development process. That's not to say it's production-ready though, most of our developers are using it in production and have been for months, but unless you have a solid understanding of the underlying system and can manually verify the configuration, 2.0 is not yet for you. If you have a non-critical environment where you can try it out, you can find the latest build on the snapshot server. Please report your experiences on the 2.0 board on the forum." Read the complete release announcement for further details and known issues. Download: pfSense-2.0-BETA1.iso.gz (75.6MB, SHA256).

Onur Küçük has announced the availability of the beta release of Pardus Linux 2009.1: "The first testing release of Pardus Linux 2009.1 is ready. Like always, you can download it from the Pardus FTP servers. Pardus Linux 2009.1 beta comes with the latest stable KDE release, enhanced hardware support, and bigger software archive with up-to-date packages such as KDE 4.3.4, Linux kernel 2.6.30.9, OpenOffice.org 3.1.1, Mozilla Firefox 3.5.6, GIMP 2.6.7, X.Org Server 1.6.5, Python 2.6.4 and many more in just one CD. We remind you that this is the first testing release and not all of the features and optimizations of the final release are ready. As this release is within the fast development cycle, there will be lots of package updates towards the stable release." Read the rest of the release announcement for additional information. Download: Pardus_2009.1_Beta.iso (696MB, SHA1).

Meric Mara has announced the release of KahelOS 12-25-2009, an Arch Linux-based, rolling-release distribution with GNOME and GTK+ applications: "On this very day of 'gift-giving', three months after our first installer release 09-09-2009, we give you the new KahelOS (Desktop edition) installer version 12-25-2009. KahelOS now has Linux kernel 2.6.32, X.Org 7.5 and GNOME 2.28.2 by default." Some of the other improvements include: "simplified installation, the installer appears automatically upon boot-up; KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) is automatically detected, which means faster boot process, faster X server load, seamless graphical 3D effects, faster graphics, and an improved animated boot sequence; faster boot-up - the start-up process has been tweaked enormously to speed up the boot process." Read the rest of the release announcement for additional information. Download (MD5) the installation CD image from here: kahel-desktop-122509-i686.iso (696MB, MD5).

Yuichiro Nakada has announced the release of Berry Linux 1.00. The project, which started in November 2002 with version 0.01 (based on Red Hat Linux 8.0) and continued with regular incremental updates, has now produced exactly 100 releases. Version 1.00 is based on Fedora 11, but includes updated Linux kernel 2.6.32.1 (with SMP, ndev/udev, bootsplash and Aufs support), KDE 4.3.2, Rasp-UI 0.14 window manager, up-to-date versions of MPlayer and xine, the latest Mozilla Firefox, (version 3.5.6, with Flash plugin updated to version 10.0.32) in English and Japanese, and WINE 1.1.32. The MadWiFi kernel modules have been removed from the live CD. See the complete changelog for further details. Berry Linux is a user-friendly live and installation CD designed primarily for Japanese-speaking users, but support for English is also available as an option in the boot menu. Download (MD5) the landmark release from here: berry-1.00.iso (573MB).

Warren Woodford has announced the availability of the third beta release of SimplyMEPIS 8.5, a beginner-friendly, Debian-based distribution and live CD with KDE 4: "MEPIS has announced that SimplyMEPIS 8.4.95, the third beta of MEPIS 8.5, is available from MEPIS and public mirrors. SimplyMEPIS 8.x is based on a Debian stable foundation, but is enhanced with cherry-picked updates to important applications. The 8.5 release features a KDE 4.3.4 desktop, while the 8.0 release continues to support KDE 3.5.10. Warren Woodford reported: 'This beta includes kernel 2.6.32.2, which we reconfigured slightly, based on user feedback, so Kdenlive works with DV cameras. Kipi plugins were updated to the new 1.0.0 release. And the beginning defaults for Dolphin and the desktop were adjusted to be more 'MEPIS-like.'" Read the full release announcement for further details. Download: SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.4.95-b3_32.iso (696MB, MD5), SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.4.95-b3_64.iso (691MB, MD5).

Mario Colque has announced the release of Tuquito 3.1, a user-friendly, Ubuntu-based distribution for desktops developed in Argentina. New features in this release include: Linux kernel 2.6.31; GNOME 2.28.1; new functions added to Garfio, a system configuration tool; improved Tuquito RSS feed; addition of Banshee and VLC players; 100% compatible with MS Office file formats; support for reading and writing to FAT and NTFS partitions; automatic mounting of NTFS partitions; support for booting from USB storage device or DVD drives; addition of Google Chrome browser; support for netbooks; improved support for Broadcom wireless chipsets; support for Windows wireless drivers; ext4 as the default file system; out-of-the-box support for MP3 and DVD playback; support for ADSL modems; integration of VINE; addition of VirtualBox.... Read the rest of the release announcement (in Spanish) for more information and screenshots. Download: tuquito3.1-32bits-full.iso (945MB, MD5).

Fabio Erculiani has announced the release of a special "Gaming" edition of Sabayon Linux 5.1: "This is our Christmas gift to our beloved community. A Sabayon DVD full of games to instantly play on every PC. This release comes straight from the north pole, I've found it under my Christmas tree this morning and wanted to share it with you. Santa made it for all our users. A cute Sabayon Linux 5.1 x86 full of games to not get bored during the holidays. Feature list: based on Sabayon Linux 5.1 x86 GNOME; filled with gigabytes of games, the best free and open-source games in the Linux land. Games included: Battle of Wesnoth, Foobillard, Freeciv, Frozen Bubble, GNOME Games, NeverBall, Nexuiz, OpenArena, Pingus, Pychess, Scorched 3D, Spring, Stepmania, Torcs, Tremulous, Warsow, Warzone 2100, Wormux." Visit the Sabayon Linux forum to read the release announcement. Download: Sabayon_Linux_5.1-r1_x86_GAMING.iso (3,734MB, MD5, torrent).

The regular bi-weekly updates to Elive, a Debian-based desktop distribution featuring a highly customised Enlightenment 17 desktop, continue with the release of unstable version 1.9.54: "The Elive team is proud to announce the release of development version 1.9.54." What's new? "ElPanel removed, all its features are moved elsewhere, it is more user-friendly now, but if you like ElPanel you can still install it; some Enlightenment 17 modules added, also, you can now configure the start-up sound and elive-news features; NVIDIA - if you use nvida-settings to configure a dual-monitor setup by generating an xorg.conf, you can recover your keyboard configuration; kernel version 2.6.30. Note that this is a development version." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: elive_1.9.54_unstable.iso (679MB, MD5).

George Vlahavas has announced the release of Salix OS 13.0.2, a Slackware-based Linux distribution with Xfce as the default desktop: "The Salix team is proud to announce the release of Salix 13.0.2. The most important change is the addition of a 64-bit port of Salix OS. As the 32-bit counterpart, Salix64 is fully backwards compatible with Slackware64 and provides a simple and fast way to install an Xfce-based system that follows the 'one application per task' philosophy. The 64-bit repositories already include a considerable number of packages, making it the largest third-party package repository for Slackware64 users available. The Salix team has also created and maintains a repository that includes dependency information for all Slackware packages, 32-bit and 64-bit." Read the rest of the release announcement for a more detailed list of changes. Download (MD5): salix-13.0.2.iso (540MB), salix64-13.0.2.iso (520MB).

ClearFoundation has announced the availability of ClearOS 5.1, a CentOS-based server and gateway distribution for small businesses formerly known as ClarkConnect: "ClearFoundation released the ClearOS Enterprise 5.1 final version. What's new? anti-phishing, Windows 7 support, graphical console tool, improved usability and web interface, core system upgraded to CentOS 5.4. ClearOS 5.x supports upgrades from ClarkConnect 4.x and later. Upgrades from earlier versions (or systems originally installed with an earlier version) are not supported. When you run the ClearOS installer, make sure you select the upgrade option. As with any upgrade, please backup any critical data. For those of you upgrading from ClarkConnect 5.0, a live upgrade (via yum) will be made available shortly." Read the release announcement and release notes for further information. Download (MD5): clearos-enterprise-5.1.iso (689MB).

Andrew Gillis has announced the release of VortexBox 1.0, a Fedora-based server distribution that turns an unused computer into a music server or jukebox: "VortexBox 1.0 released. After several months of hard work we have released VortexBox 1.0. It has many of the features requested by the community including: FLAC to Apple Lossless (m4a) mirroring through the web GUI; MusicBrainz and CDDB used for ID3 tags; tool tips for each section in the GUI; Logitech SqueezeCenter 7.4.1 pre-installed and configured; software upgrade through the web GUI. VortexBox 1.0 also has a lot of bug fixes including better handling of existing cover art. You can update to this version from the command line." Read the release announcement and visit the project's home page to learn more about this distribution. Download (MD5): vortexbox-1.0.iso (524MB). Warning: VortexBox is a server operating system that requires a complete hard disk (it cannot be installed to a hard disk partition).

Patrick Verner has released Parted Magic 4.7, a small live CD with a collection of hard disk partitioning, hardware testing and data rescue tools. What's new? "Parted Magic 4.7 adds and removes some programs and fixes a few bugs. Key changes: Partclone 0.1.9 was added again despite Clonezilla being removed, people still wanted to use it from the command line; Xfburn and libburnia are replaced by SimpleBurn and cdrtools; LXMusic 0.4.0 was added with a very limited xmms2 build; util-linux is replaced by util-linux-ng; Firefox is replaced by Google Chrome (official beta version); Linux kernel is updated to 2.6.32.2 with Squashfs and LZMA compression; a mistake in the kernel configuration was fixed and Broadcom wireless drivers work again; some major problems were fixed in the wireless scripts; lsof 4.78, workman 1.3.4, hddtemp 0.3-beta15 were added." The full release announcement can be found on the project's home page. Download the live CD or the live USB image from here: pmagic-4.7.iso.zip (72.2MB), pmagic-usb-4.7.zip (72.2MB).

Alan Baghumian has announced the availability of the first revision of Parsix GNU/Linux 3.0, a desktop distribution and live CD based on Debian's testing branch: "The first update of Parsix GNU/Linux 3.0 is available for immediate download. This version merges all security and bug-fix updates. Also, a bug in installer that prevented detection of other installed operating systems has been fixed. Parsix 3.0 brings a vast amount of new features, like GNOME 2.26.3, brand new kernel based on Linux 2.6.29.6 with extra patches and drivers, updated installer that supports separate /home partition, ext4 file system and GRUB 2. In other news, Parsix 3.5 repositories are up and running and all community users are welcome to start testing and using it. The final release is planned for March 2010." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: parsix_3.0r1-i386.iso (686MB, MD5), parsix_3.0r1-amd64.iso (693MB, MD5).

Adonay Sanz Alsina has announced the release of kademar Linux 4.9.1, a Debian-based desktop distribution and live CD/DVD with support for the Catalan language and some custom configuration tools. Some of the changes in this version include: major improvements in the PulseAudio sound server; ext4 as the default file system; NetworkManager applet replaced by wicd; new CADI module for configuring multimedia keyboards; Linux kernel 2.6.31.5 compiled for the i686 architecture and with NVIDIA proprietary kernel module version 185.18.36; system installer improvements with initial support for GRUB 2 bootloader, a console-mode installation option, various improvements in graphical interface and corrections in the Catalan-language translations. Read the full release announcement (in Spanish) for additional notes. Download (MD5): kademar_V4.9.1_Desktop-DVD.iso (1,761MB), kademar_V4.9.1_Lyra.iso (692MB).

Paul Sherman has released Absolute Linux 13.0.5, an updated version of the Slackware-based distribution featuring the lightweight IceWM window manager: "Absolute Linux 13.0.5 released. Monthly minor release cycle? Primarily security updates (kernel, GIMP, Firefox, BIND, etc.). Also removed Brasero (CD burning) as it is too dependent upon GNOME and switched to a simpler Xfburn. It has a few Xfce-related dependencies but these are small and they also allow easier development for users if they want to use the libraries. You may also notice that wxGTK libraries are in the base install, used by the CHM help viewer and also support Audacity, now compiled and sitting on CD2 in the multimedia folder." Visit the project's home page to read the release announcement. Download (MD5): absolute-13.0.5.iso (678MB).

ClearFoundation has announced the availability of the second release candidate for ClearOS 5.1, a server and firewall distribution formerly known as ClarkConnect: "ClearOS Enterprise 5.1 Release Candidate 2 is now available! This second release candidate has all the features available and is ready for production use. Changes since RC1: remedied most of the slowness caused by unnecessary DNS/hostname lookups; completed graphical console implementation; completed ClarkConnect upgrade implementation; fixed text encoding on report page; fixed the network-multiwan missing group in the installer (gateway mode); improved network and user related pages; fixed some minor cosmetic look and feel issues; fixed time values on the intrusion prevention page has incorrect time values; cleaned up some Samba implementation issues." See the release announcement and release notes if you need to know more. Download: clearos-enterprise-5.1-rc2.iso (689MB, MD5).

Kaleb Marshall has announced the availability of the first beta release of TinyMe 2010, a Unity Linux-based minimalist distribution with Openbox: "I am glad to announce the release of TinyMe 2010 'Acorn' Beta 1! TinyMe is a Unity-based distribution targeted at older computers and people who want a very light and fast desktop environment. Release notes: you will be automatically logged into the guest account when booting up the live CD; due to the lateness of the year, I decided to change TinyMe 2009 to TinyMe 2010; at this point, only an LZMA-compressed ISO images is offered. Features: Linux kernel 2.6.31.6, Pragha audio player, AbiWord - a light and fast word processor, Midori web browser...." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download: TinyMe-2010-Beta-1.i586.iso (199MB, MD5).

Untangle Gateway 7.1 has been released. Untangle is a Debian-based network gateway with pluggable modules for network applications like spam blocking, web filtering, anti-virus, anti-spyware, intrusion prevention, VPN, SSL VPN and firewall. From the release announcement: "We are pleased to announce broad availability of our latest version, Untangle 7.1, which includes a host of new features and improvements: hierarchical policy management - managing multiple policies is now much more productive, with much less task repetition; automated sessions ending - sessions are now automatically ended is the user's policy changes at a point in time; safe search - Esoft web filter can now enforce safe search for popular search engines, such as Google; password override - administrators can now allow for block pages to be bypassed using a password...." Download: untangle_710.iso (435MB), untangle_710_amd64.iso (421MB).

Anil Gulecha has announced the availability of the second alpha release of Nexenta Core Platform 3.0, an OpenSolaris distribution for x86/x64 servers with a selection of tightly-integrated applications: "On behalf of the Nexenta project, I'd like to announce the availability of the Nexenta Core Platform (NCP) 3.0 alpha 2. This is the second release in NCP3. The main changes over the Alpha1 release include: move from OpenSolaris b124 to b129, this brings the long awaited ZFS deduplication support to the distribution; many additional network drivers; nexenta-on-source changes. From the release of NCP3 on, all sunw* packages are natively built on Nexenta. The complete sources are available in the repository, along with Sun Studio 12 and other tools to roll your own kernel." Here is the complete release announcement. Download (MD5): nexenta_3.0-b129-alpha2_x86.iso.zip (557MB).

Warren Woodford has announced the availability of the second beta release of SimplyMEPIS 8.5, a beginner-friendly Linux distribution based on Debian stable, but with updated KDE 4 desktop. From the announcement: "The rapid response of the Debian KDE team made it possible for us to recompile KDE 4.3.4 in time for this beta. And we were able to fix the perpetually problematic Python toolchain well enough that system-config-printer finally works. Also there have been numerous suggestions from the community; some are included now, and some will be in the next beta. The MEPIS artistic team made some tweaks to the theme graphics. To also improve the look, mepis-init has been changed to default to 24-bit depth display for most modern graphics drivers. We're being cautious about this change, since we don't want to make things worse for users with older graphics chips." Read the rest of the release announcement for additional notes. Download: SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.4.94-b2_32.iso (696MB, MD5), SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.4.94-b2_64.iso (693MB, MD5).

Kai Hendry has released Webconverger 5.8, a specialist, Debian-based distribution for web kiosks, with Firefox as the only available desktop application. What's new in this release? "The big difference with this release is using i686 builds instead of i486. This means that Webconverger will not boot on very old PCs and some cheap CPUs like Geode. If this is problem for you, let me know! For the rest of us with i686-compatible hardware, Webconverger should be a litter faster. In other news, the spelling from the previous release 5.7 with Firefox 3.5 should now be working for you. The CJK support might not quite work on these free images; however, if you purchase Webconverger with Chinese (or Korean or Japanese) support I will ensure all the relevant fonts and input tools are pre-installed." Check out the release notes for further information. Download (MD5) the live CD or the live USB image from here: webc-5.8.iso (227MB), webc-5.8.img (234MB).

Samuel Baggen has announced the availability of a new development release of Elive, version 1.9.52, a Debian-based distribution featuring the latest build of the Enlightenment 17 desktop: "The Elive team is proud to announce the release of development version 1.9.52." Changes since Elive 1.9.51: "Enlightenment 17 modules - a new set of Enlightenment 17 modules for Elive, they are found in the features category of the Enlightenment 17 Preferences; Trayer moved to the system tray of Enlightenment 17; Bluetooth featured on the fly; power manager featured for laptops; MSN - aMSN replaced by emesene for now due to resources and stability reasons; Linux kernel version 2.6.30. Note that this is a development version." Here is the brief release announcement. Those interested in helping to test the release can download the live CD image from here: elive_1.9.52_unstable.iso (681MB, MD5).

The Epidemic development team has announced the availability of the third beta release of Epidemic GNU/Linux 3.1, a Brazilian Debian-based desktop distribution with KDE and out-of-the box support for popular graphics drivers, media codecs and 3D desktop effects. The focus of the development effort since beta 2 was on correcting bugs and polishing the system, but there have been also some important additions, such as a new boot option that allows booting directly from an ISO image located on a hard disk, speed improvements in the boot process with elimination of text messages, and integration of ESU (a user-friendly authentication module developed in-house) with KNotification. Please see the full release announcement (in Portuguese) which lists all the main new features and additions in this version. Download the live DVD image from here: epidemic-3.1-b3-1-i686.iso (1,560MB, MD5).

The first beta release of MOPSLinux 7.0, a Russian Slackware-based community distribution with an advanced package manager, is ready for download and testing. According to the release announcement, the distribution has now reached a reasonable level of stability to call this release a "beta". The most important changes since alpha 4 are bug fixes in various packages, as well as fixes in the mpkg package manager and the system installer. Most notable updates include: the Qt library has been updated to version 4.6.0 final; Inkscape has been updated to version 0.47; KDE 4.3.4; GCC 4.3.4; miscellaneous other package upgrades. Also new in this release is the ability to choose from a set of pre-configured setup variants depending on the purpose of the system. Read the full release announcement (in Russian) for further information. Download the installation DVD from here: MOPSLinux-7.0-beta1.iso (1,696MB, MD5).

Chris Buechler has released pfSense 1.2.3, a specialist firewall distribution based on FreeBSD: "pfSense 1.2.3 is now available! This is a maintenance release in the 1.2.x series, bringing an updated FreeBSD base, some minor enhancements, some bug fixes, and a couple of security updates. We have been waiting a few weeks in anticipation of a FreeBSD security advisory for the SSL/TLS renegotiation vulnerability, which came last week and allowed us to finalize the release. Change list: upgrade to FreeBSD 7.2; embedded edition switched to NanoBSD; dynamic interface bridging bug fix; IPsec connection reloading improvements; dynamic site-to-site IPsec; sticky connections enable and disable; ability to delete DHCP leases; polling fixed; ipfw state table size; UDP state timeout increases...." Read the rest of the release announcement for a complete list of changes and enhancements. Download: pfSense-1.2.3-RELEASE-LiveCD-Installer.iso.gz (55.2MB, MD5).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the first alpha release of Ubuntu 10.04, code name "Lucid Lynx": "Welcome to Lucid Lynx Alpha 1, which will in time become Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. New features: updated packages, Linux kernel 2.6.32, KDE 4.4 beta 1, HAL removal. Known issues: the nv driver used by default for NVIDIA video chipsets on the live CD is reported to lead to X server crashes; the firmware for the bnx2 driver is not available on the alternate and server installer images at install time; manual partitioning in the graphical installer is reported to cause the installer to crash; clicking on the installer icon on the Kubuntu desktop CD fails to launch Ubiquity; the Kubuntu alpha 1 desktop ISOs are too large to fit on a CD." See the release announcement and release notes for more details. Download (SHA256): lucid-desktop-i386.iso (685MB, torrent), lucid-desktop-amd64.iso (690MB, torrent). Also released today: Kubuntu 10.04 alpha 1 (download, release notes) and Xubuntu 10.04 alpha 1 (download).

Glenn Cady has announced the release of Ultimate Edition 2.5, an Ubuntu-based live DVD in over 3 gigabytes - with GNOME, KDE, Xfce and thousands of applications: "Ultimate Edition 2.5 was built off Ultimate Edition 2.4 (Ubuntu 9.10 based), all upgrades pre-installed as of current. It has KDE, Xfce and GNOME, user-selectable at login, three new themes and tons of applications. This release is huge, obviously bigger then Ultimate Edition 2.4. I am not going to spend my time writing a web page, just a post, even though it is a very worthy release and deserves a web page. I have a lot on my plate in programming and other activities. It has been out about a week, forum users have been grabbing it left and right." For more information please see this brief release announcement. Download (MD5): ultimate-edition-2.5-x86.iso (3,040MB), ultimate-edition-2.5-x64.iso (3,057MB).

Unity Linux is a Mandriva-based minimalist distribution with the Openbox window manager and Smart advanced package management tool. The project's main goal is to provide a core operating system upon which more complete solutions can be built. The first public development release was announced earlier today: "The Unity Linux project is pleased to announce its first beta release, 2010 Beta 1. Mandriva-based Unity Linux uses the MkLiveCD project, which allows developers to create their own distribution on top of a Unity Linux core. Nearly 7,000 packages are available after installation. In an effort to give distribution developers maximum flexibility, the core is kept small and usable, but not too basic. Unity Linux provides developers with the bare minimum - just enough to make use of remastering tools, the Smart package manager, a 2.6.31.6 kernel, and RPM 5." Here is the full release announcement. Download: Unity32-2010-Beta1.iso (261MB, MD5), Unity64-2010-Beta1.iso (298MB, MD5).

Chen Ping-Hsun has announced the release of xPUD 0.9.2, a minimal, kiosk-type distribution with Mozilla Firefox, based on Ubuntu: "We're pleased to announce the release of xPUD 0.9.2. xPUD is a minimal and fast booting browser operating system, based on Mozilla Firefox, with a web-based user interface on top. New features: new SysTray; improved backup and restore; new page curl effect; WebApp mode; Opt-Get application store; new File tab. Based on the latest Ubuntu 9.10 repository and Linux kernel 2.6.31, xPUD 0.9.2 now comes with Vietnamese support and a total 15 different languages, and now we have X.Org and PCManFM built into the core system. The porting to ARM and MIPS architectures has also been completed." Read the rest of the release announcement (with screenshots) for more information and known issues. Download: xpud-0.9.2.iso (64.0MB, MD5).

Warren Woodford has announced that the first beta release of SimplyMEPIS 8.5, a Debian-based desktop Linux distribution with KDE 4, is now ready for testing: "MEPIS has released SimplyMEPIS 8.4.90, the beta 1 of MEPIS 8.5. Warren Woodford reported on the progress in the 8.5 release cycle: 'This beta includes a 2.6.32 kernel that is one patch short of the final. The next beta will probably contain kernel 2.6.32.1. We still use KDE 4.3.2 but we're hoping we can leverage the dedicated efforts of the Debian KDE Team to update to a newer version soon. We've had a lot of input from users. We're trying to tweak 8.5 to reflect their suggestions and preferences. In particular, our thanks go out to the community members who designed and tested a new desktop theme for 8.5.'" Here is the brief release announcement. Download: SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.4.90-b1_32.iso (693MB, MD5), SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.4.90-b1_64.iso (687MB, MD5).

Carsten SchÃ¶ne has announced the release of StressLinux 0.4.136, an openSUSE-based live CD designed for testing computer system(s) on high load and monitor their health under extreme conditions: "Release published (0.4.136). This release is the first one which is available as 32-bit and 64-bit build; it contains all official updates from the base distribution and additionally updates the following packages to current versions: stress, nbench, nepim, netperf, lm_sensors, Memtest86+ and BusyBox. These packages are added to the distribution: dbench, tiobench, rsync and firmware packages for different kernel drivers. There are some fixes to smartd, hddtemp, ifstatus, environment and usability." Visit the project's home page to read the release announcement. Download the live CD images from here: stresslinux.i686-0.4.136.iso.bz2 (141MB, MD5), stresslinux.x86_64-0.4.136.iso.bz2 (144MB, MD5).

Michael Zanetta has announced the release of Pentoo 2009.0, a Gentoo-based live CD featuring a selection of applications and tools designed to perform penetration testing: "Pentoo 2009.0 final is there. Nights after nights, we polished this version, and it looks really nice. The most notable changes: new Linux kernel 2.6.31.6 with Aufs and Squashfs-LZMA; new WiFi stack 2.6.32-rc7 with injection and fragmentation patches; QEMU with virt-manager so you can play some virtual machines in there; lots of tools updates (MSF, exploit-db, Kismet, SQLmap, Firefox and add-ons); some tools additions (Airpwn, Wapiti, PPPd) and some graphics fixes (NVIDIA, Intel); enhanced cracking software (NTLM/MD4/MD5 CUDA brute force cracker; WPA PSK rainbow tables generation accelerated through CUDA, STREAM or PADLOCK; John The Ripper with MPI support)." Visit the project's home page to read the complete release announcement. Download: pentoo-i686-2009.0.iso (666MB, MD5, pentoo-x86_64-2009.0.iso (698MB, MD5).

Calculate Linux 10.0, a Gentoo-based distribution for desktops and servers, has been released. The new version comes in several editions, including Calculate Directory Server (CDS), Calculate Linux Desktop with either KDE 4.3.3 (CLD) or Xfce 4.6.1 (CLDX), and Calculate Linux Scratch without a desktop (CLS) or with GNOME 2.26.3 (CLSG). Some of the features in this release include: a complete client-server solution; full compatibility with Gentoo Linux, support for German, English, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Ukrainian; addition of a pre-configured AdBlock Plus add-on to Firefox, addition of EisKaltDC P2P client, Kbluetooth.... See the release announcement (in Russian) for additional details. The various Calculate editions are available for download from the distribution's FTP and HTTP mirrors; quick links to the CLD edition: cld-10.0-i686.iso (1,738MB, MD5, torrent), cld-10.0-x86_64.iso (1,823MB, MD5, torrent).

After 3.5 years of inactivity, the VLOS project has been resurrected. A new test build of the distribution which is now built using Daniel Robbins's Funtoo stages and which uses the Entropy package manager and the Sabayon Linux system installer, has been released: "After three and a half years on hold, the VLOS project returns with a new vision for the future. Today we are pleased to introduce the first alpha of what will be our stable VLOS 2.0. It includes countless improvements: based on stages from Funtoo by Daniel Robbins with Linux kernel 2.6.31, GNOME 2.28.1, GCC 4.3.3, glibc 2.9 and X.Org Server 1.7.2; based on Sabayon Linux using Entropy package manager and installer; VLOS is now a live DVD and can be used as a rescue disc; moved from HAL to DeviceKit-power, DeviceKit-disks and udev; includes WINE by default and is able to run supported Windows applications; uses the ext4 file system by default." For further details please see the release announcement. Download the installable live DVD images via BitTorrent: Vidalinux_2.0_alpha1_i686.iso (827MB), Vidalinux_2.0_alpha1_amd64.iso (911MB).

David Kuntadi has announced the availability of the beta release of Ubuntu Christian Edition 6.0, a distribution based on Ubuntu 9.10 and incorporating a variety of Christian and parental control software: "Ubuntu Christian Edition 6.0 beta release. One problem with the Ubuntu 9.10 release is a bug in DansGuardian, but Ubuntu Christian Edition 6.0, based on Ubuntu 9.10, comes with DansGuardian enabled and fully functional. In addition, the DansGuardian GUI now makes Internet filtering and sharing easy. With just a few clicks, you would be able to share Internet connection to your LAN, with or without Internet filtering. There is a major change in e-Sword installer as well, it now uses WINE stable (1.0.1) instead of WINE development. In addition to the desktop edition, we have also released a server edition." See the release announcement and changelog for more information. Download via BitTorrent: ubuntu-9.10-christian_edition_v6.0-i386_beta.iso (770MB), ubuntu-9.10-christian_edition_v6.0-amd64_beta.iso (825MB).

Linux Deepin is a Chinese distribution consisting of elaborately selected software applications and configurations, with the goal of being easy and convenient to use. Version 9.12 is the first public release since the project changed its name from Hiweed Linux, and after five internal alpha tests the first beta version has just been announced. Although there is a change in both the project name and the logo, the slogan continues to be "relieving novices from painfully getting started with Linux as well as saving the time for veterans". Moreover, the distribution still claims to be lightweight. Linux Deepin 9.12 is based on the software repository of Ubuntu 9.10 and is only complied for the i386 architecture. Features inherited from the upstream distribution are Linux kernel 2.6.31 with USB 3.0 support and Xfce 4.6.1 with enhanced desktop experience. Check the project introduction and the release notes (both links in Chinese) for more information. Download: Deepin-9.12-beta1.iso (695MB, MD5, torrent).

Linux Mangaka is an Ubuntu-based distributions designed primarily for the fans of Japanese Manga and Anime, with an innovative set of desktop themes, a large variety of programs for graphics design, many freely available Google applications, and a number of games. The project's second release, named Chu, is now available for download: "The English edition of the free, complete, easy and fast Anime Community Linux Operating System is out. Features: EXE programs compatibility, MAC/WIN key open menu, music preview on mouse-over-file, codecs for video and audio; Flash Player plugin for Google Chrome; huge pack of multimedia and Internet tools." Read the release announcement and visit the distribution's About page to learn more. The Linux Mangaka Chu live DVD image is available for download via BitTorrent (2,382MB).

Ben Zhao has announced the release of CDlinux 0.9.5, a compact, minimalist live CD with the Xfce desktop and several popular applications: "This is yet another maintenance release concentrating on stability and usability. There are only a few new features: UTF-8 console (use the 'fbcon' command); add AbiWord back and upgrade to 2.8.1; Korean support; more optional add-on modules. And some bug fixes: fix a bug in the drcom package; modify rc.font to omit removable devices. Package upgrades: Linux kernel 2.6.31.6, X.Org Server 1.6.5, CUPS 1.4.2, Poppler 0.12.2, Samba 3.4.2, Firefox 3.5.5, JRE 6 u17. CDlinux 0.9.5 will be the last version using the good old X.Org 7.4. In the upcoming 0.9.6 we'll upgrade to the brand new X.Org 7.5." Visit the distribution's news page to read the release announcement. Download (MD5): CDlinux_CE-0.9.5.iso (214MB, MD5).

Manuel Kasper has announced the release of m0n0wall 1.3, a minimalist firewall distribution based on FreeBSD: "After almost three years in beta, I have decided that m0n0wall 1.3 is now good enough for production. It's basically a re-release of 1.3b18, with two fixes thrown in. No major bugs have been reported any more, but as always, upgrade on your own risk. Major changes in this release (since 1.23): switched base operating system to FreeBSD 6.4; consolidated net45xx, net48xx and wrap images into a single 'embedded' image; switched bridge implementation to if_bridge - bridge member interfaces will now always be filtered; IPv6 support (enable on advanced setup page); firewall support for IPsec traffic; IPsec NAT-T, DPD and dynamic tunnels; countless bug fixes and other improvements." Read the release announcement and changelog for additional details. Download (MD5): cdrom-1.3.iso (17.5MB).

Johnny Lee has announced the release of Macpup Linux 2.0, a variant of Puppy Linux with the Enlightenment 17 window manager, attractive artwork, Mac OS X-like user interface, and extra desktop applications: "Macpup Foxy 3.0 is based on Puppy Linux 4.3.1 (Linux kernel 2.6.30.5). It includes all the updates from the 4.3.1 service pack and has all the applications from 4.3 plus Firefox (updated to 3.5.4) and GIMP 2.6.3. It also has D-Bus 1.2.16 and Sakura 1.2.3 compiled and installed from source. The Enlightenment 17 window manager was also compiled and installed from source. You can also use JWM, use the exit menu to change window managers. Please note that not all the options in the e17 system shutdown menu work with Puppy Linux - that is why the exit menu was added. The battery module in this build of Enlightenment 17 had a problem of maxing out the CPU, so I removed it from Fox 3.0." Read the rest of the release announcement for further information. Download: Macpup_Foxy3.iso (175MB, MD5).

Stefan Emmerich has announced the release of Debris Linux 2.0, an Ubuntu-based desktop distribution with GNOME and Openbox in under 200 MB: "After a long time of development, we finally present Debris Linux 2.0. Because of the large amount of testing and the fact that it is based on a very stable Ubuntu LTS version, Debris Linux 2.0 has proven to be a very stable system. Debris Linux 2.0 is package compatible with Ubuntu 8.04 'Hardy Heron' - you can use all packages for this release from the Ubuntu repositories, except for those depending on the Ubuntu kernel! Changes since RC1: fixed the clipboard issue; new feature - build-fstab will also update the swap partition's UUID used for hibernation resume; updated Firefox 3.0.15; Ubuntu security updates. Debris Linux 2.0 will provide security updates until April 2011." See the release announcement and changelog for more details. Download: debris-2.0.iso (186MB, MD5).

Clement Lefebvre has announced the release of Linux Mint 8, a beginner-friendly, Ubuntu-based desktop Linux distribution: "The team is proud to announce the stable release of Linux Mint 8, code name 'Helena'. The 8th release of Linux Mint comes with numerous bug fixes and a lot of improvements. In particular, Linux Mint 8 comes with support for OEM installs, a brand new Upload Manager, the menu now allows you to configure custom places, the update manager now lets you define packages for which you don't want to receive updates,the software manager now features multiple installation and removal of software and many of the tools' graphical interfaces were enhanced." Read the release announcement and visit the what's new page (with screenshots) to find out more about the new release. Download (mirrors) the installable live CD image from here: LinuxMint-8.iso (688MB, MD5, torrent).

Marcos Guglielmetti has announced the release of Musix GNU/Linux 2.0, a 100% libre, Debian-based distribution with a collection of software for audio production, graphics design and video editing: "It is a great pleasure for us to announce the availability of version 2.0 of the MUSIX GNU/Linux free operating system, after a year of hard community work. You can get MUSIX 2.0 in two ways: live DVD (plus hard disk installer) and USB (persistent, minimum 4 GB). Major new features: Linux kernel 2.6.29.4 real-time 'full preempt', ready for low-latency audio operations either live or installed to hard disk; custom KDE as default desktop (you can also run GNOME, IceWM, Fluxbox, LXDE); based on Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 'Lenny'; improved installer and start system; persistent USB edition; extensive and updated set of applications...." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download: Musix-2.0.iso (1,962MB, MD5).

Stanislav Hoferek has announced the release of Greenie Linux 6K, an Ubuntu-based desktop distribution optimised for Slovak and Czech users: "Greenie 6K is based on Ubuntu 9.10 'Karmic Koala', with many up-to-date applications, including Linux Kernel 2.6.31, GNOME 2.28, OpenOffice.org 3.1.1, Firefox 3.5, WINE 1.1.33 and also some new applications, such as Google Chrome (web browser), Imagination (slideshow creator), PDFMod (PDF editor), StarDict (a dictionary with support for Czech), Empathy (Internet messaging client, Pidgin is included too). Because of lack of free space on CD, several programs have been removed, including Inkscape, Alien and Mencoder. Greenie 6K also brings several changes to Greenie Toolbar, Firefox (with new speed dial), Bash aliases and graphic theme." Here is the brief release announcement. Download the installable live CD image from here: greenie-6k.iso (698MB, MD5).

FreeBSD 8.0, a major new update of the popular operating system for servers, desktops and embedded devices, has been officially released: "The FreeBSD Release Engineering team is pleased to announce the availability of FreeBSD 8.0-RELEASE. This release starts off the new 8-STABLE branch which improves on the functionality of FreeBSD 7.X and introduces many new features. Some of the highlights: Xen Dom-U, VirtualBox guest and host, hierarchal jails; NFSv3 GSSAPI support, experimental NFSv4 client and server; 802.11s D3.03 wireless mesh networking and Virtual Access Point support; ZFS no longer in experimental status; ground-up rewrite of USB, including USB target support; continued SMP scalability improvements in many areas, especially VFS; revised network link layer subsystem; experimental MIPS architecture support." Read the release announcement, release highlights and release notes for additional information. Download (torrents): 8.0-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso.gz (1,784MB, SHA256, torrent), 8.0-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso.gz (1,848MB, SHA256, torrent).

Ulteo, an open-source enterprise established by Mandrake Linux founder GaÃ«l Duval, has released Ulteo Open Virtual Desktop (OVD) 2.0, an appliance operating system delivering virtual desktops capable of running both Linux and Windows applications remotely: "Ulteo introduces open-source virtual desktop OVD 2.0. This new release delivers both Linux and Windows applications as complete virtual desktops - and also via web portal. Key features: ease of use, deployment and management - only a web browser with a Java plugin is required on the client side; interoperability - full integration with existing infrastructures, including Microsoft environment...." Read the release announcement and visit the features page (with screenshots) for more information. Ulteo OVD 2.0 can be installed on Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS or Fedora, but a full installation DVD providing both a host operating system (based on Ubuntu) and the virtual desktop software is also available. Download from here: ovd-iso-2.0-latest.iso (846MB).

Warren Woodford has announced the availability of the first alpha build of SimplyMEPIS 8.5, a distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 "Lenny", but with KDE 4.3.2 as the main desktop: "November 21 was the seventh anniversary of MEPIS Linux, so it seems fitting that Warren Woodford has uploaded the alpha release of MEPIS 8.5. Warren Woodford explained the rationale behind the 8.5 release: 'Many users have asked that we support the KDE 4.3 desktop, yet other users have asked that we continue to support KDE 3.5.10. So in the spirit of our ongoing updates, we are building 8.5, not as a replacement for 8.0, but rather as an alternative for those users who want KDE 4.3. We will continue to support 8.0 with KDE 3.5.10 in parallel with 8.5 and KDE 4.3.' The 8.5 alpha defaults to a 2.6.32-rc8 kernel." Read the release announcement for more details. Download: SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.4.80-a0_32.iso (696MB, MD5), SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.4.80-a0_64.iso (690MB, MD5).

VENENUX GNU/Linux is a Debian-based community distribution developed in South America and designed for Spanish-speaking users. The second release candidate for the upcoming version 0.8 was announced today. Changes: cleaner and more comfortable desktop theme; improved performance; "libre" Linux kernel 2.6.31.4; support for ext4 file system; addition of "Installation Mode" to the boot menu; addition of a light-weight window manager (Openbox) for underpowered computers; complete integration of OpenOffice.org into the KDE 3 desktop; improved hardware detection, especially for webcams; system installer improvements; addition of a formatting option in the USB installer; improvements in real-time features of multimedia applications; various application updates (GIMP 2.6.7, OpenOffice.org 3.1.1, Pidgin 2.6.2). For more information please read the complete release announcement (in Spanish). Download (MD5) the installable live DVD from here: venenux-0.8-dvd-rc2c.iso (1,342MB).

Juergen Trapp and Tobias Gerschner have announced the availability of the second beta release of Yoper Linux 2009, a desktop distribution with KDE 4, LXDE and Xfce desktops: "We are happy to announce the beta 2 of Yoper Linux 2009, soon to be Yoper Linux 2010. This release includes Linux kernel 2.6.31 with many fixes and features included in the soon-to-be-released kernel 2.6.32 (drm-next, nouveau-drm and Squashfs with LZMA support). X.Org has been updated to the final version 7.5 and Mesa 7.6, including the latest X.Org Server and drivers. As usual, the latest versions of other packages are also available, including Firefox, KOffice and GNOME Office. KDE 4 received a further overhaul and is now updated to KDE 4.3.3. Furthermore, we have finished the work on the LXDE desktop environment." Here is the full release announcement. Download (MD5): yoper-2009-beta2-lxde.iso (393MB), yoper-2009-beta2-kde4.iso (657MB), yoper-2009-beta2-xfce.iso (368MB).

Thierry Nuttens has announced the release of NuTyX 2009.1, a French desktop-oriented distribution based on Linux From Scratch with a hybrid (binary and source) package management borrowed from CRUX. The new release comes with a number of new features, including the first-ever GNOME edition, the ability to install the distribution into LVM volumes, a simplified text-mode system installer, and a new graphical package management front-end. Please refer to the release announcement (in French) for further details. The distribution comes in a number of editions depending on the user's desktop choice; there are LXDE, Xfce 4.6.1, KDE 4.3.3 and GNOME 2.28.1 installation CDs. Quick download links: NuTyX_i686-2009.1-LXDE.iso (293MB, MD5), NuTyX_i686-2009.1-XFCE.iso (565MB, MD5, NuTyX_i686-2009.1-GNOME.iso (550MB, MD5), NuTyX_i686-2009.1-KDE.iso (703MB, MD5).

Klaus Knopper has released KNOPPIX 6.2, a new version of the popular Debian-based live CD/DVD with LXDE as the default desktop: "The current version 6.2 has been completely updated from Debian 'Lenny', 'Testing' and 'Unstable', and uses kernel 2.6.31.6 and X.Org 7.4. Microknoppix is a complete rewrite of the KNOPPIX boot system from version 6.0 and up, with the following features: high compatibility with its Debian base; accelerated boot procedure; LXDE as graphical environment - a very slim and fast desktop with extremely short start time and low resource requirements; amount of installed software greatly reduced in the CD edition; network configuration handled by NetworkManager...." Read the rest of the release notes for more details. Download the DVD, CD or the special ADRIANE edition with accessibility features for the visually impaired: KNOPPIX_V6.2DVD-EN.iso (3,675MB, MD5, torrent), KNOPPIX_V6.2CD-EN.iso (691MB, MD5, torrent), KNOPPIX-ADRIANE_V6.2CD-EN.iso (691MB, MD5, torrent).

Phil Miller has announced the availability of the fourth alpha release of Chakra, a desktop distribution and live CD with KDE 4 based on Arch Linux: "Today we are pleased to announce the release of alpha 4, named 'NewAge', of our very own Chakra live media. A lot has changed since alpha 3. We have a new KDE 4 theme; Tribe can install custom mount points, and we did a ton of fixes. KDEmod got updated to version 4.3.3. Chakra hardware detection got stripped down to fit X.Org Server 1.7.1.901 package, so only NVIDIA drivers are the supported proprietary drivers for now. Most noticeable changes and additions since alpha 3: Linux kernel 2.6.31.6 with fglrx patch; Chakra tools updated (aqpm, shaman, chase); ATI Catalyst support temporarily dropped...." Here is the complete release announcement. Download: chakra-minimal-i686-091116-alpha4.iso (674MB, MD5), chakra-minimal-x86_64-091116-alpha4.iso (687MB, MD5).

Jigish Gohil has announced the release of the "Edu Li-f-e" edition of openSUSE 11.2, an openSUSE variant designed for children and students, with educational applications, Sugar desktop environment, LTSP server software, and out-of-the-box support for multimedia playback: "openSUSE Education community is proud to announce openSUSE-Edu Li-f-e - Linux for education based on openSUSE 11.2. The Li-f-e flavor bundles the best software openSUSE has to offer, such as popular desktop environments, educational application, development suites, multimedia, and great out-of-the-box user experience. Some highlights of what makes this a very special distribution: latest desktop environments - GNOME 2.28 (default), KDE 4.3.x, Sugar 0.86, IceWM; applications include tons of educational applications, graphics, development, office suite, and complete multimedia support; LTSP server...." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details. Download: openSUSE-Edu-li-f-e-11.2-1-i686.iso (2,929MB, MD5, torrent).

Takaaki Tabuchi has announced the release of Momonga Linux 6.1, a Japanese community distribution modelled on Fedora. This is a minor bug-fix and security update to Momonga Linux 6 (released in July), containing minor kernel and application updates, with most of the base system remaining unchanged. Among the updated packages are Linux kernel 2.6.30.9, X.Org Server 1.6.5, KDE 4.3.2, OpenOffice.org 3.1.1, Firefox 3.5.5, Apache 2.2.14, Postfix 2.6.5, and Emacs 23.1. Some additional packages and hardware devices, such as KDE devinfo, iwl1000 and iwl6000 firmware, LXDE desktop and x3f-tools, were added to the distribution. Users running Momonga 6 can update to the latest version with yum, but upgrades from earlier versions are not supported. See the release announcement and release notes (both links in Japanese) for more information. Download the installation DVD image from here: Momonga-6.1-i686-DVD.iso (4,243MB, SHA256, Momonga-6.1-x86_64-DVD.iso (4,248MB, SHA256).

Patrick Verner has announced the release of Parted Magic 4.6, a specialist live CD designed for disk management and data rescue tasks: "Parted Magic 4.6 is a mostly a bug-fix release with some usability improvements. Key changes: many fixes and changes for Netbooks; GNU Parted bug 'ERROR: Current NTFS volume size is bigger than the device size!' is fixed; Parted Magic Save Session uses xz instead of 7-zip; ClamAV was added, but you have to download the definitions yourself; Flash Player can be downloaded and installed from the panel's application launcher; a simple program to change the keyboard layout was added to the desktop; a new program added (lxrandr) to re-size the display while running inside of X.Org; ROXTerm was replaced by an svn build of LXTerminal; Clonezilla was removed from the main Parted Magic image because it's not possible to make a rescue ISO without downloading a template." Visit the project's home page to read the full release announcement. Download (MD5): pmagic-4.6.iso.zip (82.0MB).

The fourth alpha release of MOPSLinux Linux a Russian desktop distribution based on Slackware Linux with up-to-date packages, is now available for testing. Some of the most important changes since alpha 3 include: update to Linux kernel 2.6.31.6 and glibc 2.11; support for Btrfs and NILFS2 file systems; KDE 4.3.3 and Qt 4.6-beta1; support for Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM); addition of OpenLDAP server; wxWidgets now work; fixed bug with installing distribution to hard disk other than first; the mpkg-core was split, now mpkgsupport and nwidgets are separate packages; finally solved problem with updating glibc with mpkg; wicd no longer needs to be restarted after each login. Here is the brief release announcement (in Russian). Download the installation DVD from here: MOPSLinux-7.0-alpha4.iso (1,779MB, MD5).

Attila Crăciun has announced the release of the "LiveDVD" edition of Bluewhite64 Linux 13.0, Slackware-based live DVD (not installable) for 64-bit systems: "I'm happy to announce that a new version of Bluewhite64 Linux 13.0 'LiveDVD' is ready for download. This new version brings the option to boot the DVD into KDE 4.3.2, Xfce 4.6.1 or to the command-line interface. The live DVD is powered by Linux Kernel 2.6.31.5 with advanced features and optimized for performance. Also, you will find the award-winning K Desktop Environment version 4.3.2 and the Xfce 4.6.1, Firefox 3.5.5 and SeaMonkey 2.0 (including Flash and 64-bit Java plugins), Thunderbird and KMail e-mail clients, OpenOffice.org 3.1.1, newly added SuperTuxKart and FooBillard games, Blender - an open source, cross platform suite of tools for 3D creation, the IA32 emulation to run 32-bit programs, Gambas, KMyMoney2, Scribus, WINE...." Here is the full release announcement. Download (MD5): Bluewhite64-13.0-LiveDVD.iso (1,988MB, MD5).

Leszek Lesner has announced the release of ZevenOS 2.0, a Xubuntu-based distribution and live CD featuring the Xfce desktop and BeOS-like artwork: "We are proud to announce the release of ZevenOS 2.0. ZevenOS 2.0 is based upon Ubuntu 9.10; it brings big changes like a completely new audio subsystem (PulseAudio), switch from HAL to DeviceKit, MagiKit - a standard application management layer, Remaster-Kit for easy ISO re-mastering, Encode and Super Encode - an all-in-one multimedia converting application, MAGI 2 - an application launcher, installer and configuration center. The typical BeOS like look has been improved with changes to Deskbar, icon theme and GTK+ theme. Disk Manager now supports auto-detection of BFS (BeOS) partitions and allows to mount them. The contact manager got an improved VCard filter." Read the detailed release announcement for a full list of new features and screenshots. Download (MD5): ZevenOS-20.iso (696MB, torrent).

Glenn Cady has announced the release of Ultimate Edition 2.4, an Ubuntu-based live DVD with media codecs, eye candy and -- the kitchen sink: "It has been out for about a week, but I have had a lot happening in the meantime. A burnt power supply, a smoked 1 TB drive, painted a house and caught the flu. Ultimate Edition 2.4 was built off Ubuntu 9.10, all upgrades pre-installed as of current. This release is the largest release to date and is absolutely loaded with excellent tools, many new to Ultimate Edition. This distro is lightning quick on boot-up. I must apologize, the usplash does flicker on the screen when live; once installed it works as expected. Please enjoy ladies, and gents, a ton of work went into making this distro, more then any previous." Check out the release announcement and release notes for additional info and screenshots. Download (MD5): ultimate-edition-2.4-x86.iso (2,417MB), ultimate-edition-2.4-x64.iso (2,444MB).

Robert Lange has announced the release of VectorLinux 6.0 "KDE-Classic" edition: "The VectorLinux crew is proud to announce the final release of VectorLinux 6.0 KDE-Classic. This release is not about bleeding-edge technology. On the other hand, it is not about nostalgia either. KDE 3.5.10 gets the job done. It is a mature and solid product with a large user base. Many of us are comfortable with it, and are not yet ready to leave it behind. We thought it only right to make a robust system with KDE 3.5.10 at the helm. The classic text installer will quickly have you up and running with the expected KDE tools. The KOffice suite is fast and suitable for everyday word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. Multimedia capabilities have been enhanced with the inclusion of VLC, xine and the MPlayer application and plugins." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download: VL6.0-KDE-Classic.iso (685MB, MD5). Also announced today: the first beta of VectorLinux 6.0 "SOHO" edition.

Clement Lefebvre has announced the availability of the first release candidate for Linux Mint 8, code name "Helena": "The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 8 RC1. The 8th release of Linux Mint comes with numerous bug fixes and a lot of improvements. In particular Linux Mint 8 comes with support for OEM installs, a brand new Upload Manager, the menu now allows you to configure custom places, the update manager now lets you define packages for which you don't want to receive updates, the software manager now features multiple installation and removal of software and many of the tools' graphical interfaces were enhanced. As a release candidate, this release is targeted at developers and beta testers who want to help Linux Mint find and correct bugs before the stable release. Please do not use this release as your main desktop." Read the release announcement and visit the release notes and the what's new pages to learn more about the new Linux Mint. Download: LinuxMint-8-RC1.iso (688MB, MD5, torrent).

Ken Smith has announced the availability of the third and final release candidate for FreeBSD 8.0: "The third and hopefully last of the release candidates for the FreeBSD 8.0 release cycle is now available. Unless something catastrophic comes up within the next couple of days we will begin the final builds for 8.0-RELEASE. There is one known issue with the igb(4) driver we are still deciding whether or not to fix it as part of 8.0-RELEASE versus doing an errata notice for it some time after the release is out. It has been patched in head, and the SVN commit for it is r199192. If any of you are able to give that patch a try on a machine with the igb(4) NIC it would be appreciated. ISO images for all supported architectures are available on the FTP sites, and a 'memory stick' image is available for amd64/i386 architectures." Here is the full release announcement. Download: 8.0-RC3-i386-dvd1.iso.gz (1,784MB, MD5), 8.0-RC3-amd64-dvd1.iso.gz (1,848MB, MD5).

Stefan Lippers-Hollmann has announced the release of sidux 2009-03, a desktop distribution and live media with KDE and Xfce desktops based on Debian's unstable branch: "We have the pleasure to announce the immediate availability of sidux 2009-03 'Momos', shipping with Linux kernel 2.6.31 and KDE 4.3.2. For 'Momos', the development had to take massive upstream changes for SysVInit, insserv, X.Org and device detection into account, but it also concentrated on furthering the KDE 4 integration into sidux and upgrading to Linux kernel 2.6.31. Subsequently, it is the first sidux release to ship without KDE 3 or Qt 3 packages. Linux kernel 2.6.31 doesn't only improve and stabilise hardware support for newer devices, it also provides initial support for USB 3.0 devices and the Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card." See the detailed release notes for further information. Download (mirrors, MD5): sidux-2009-03-kde-i386-amd64.iso (2,080MB), sidux-2009-03-xfce-i386.iso (487MB), sidux-2009-03-xfce-amd64.iso (494MB).

The second beta build of Epidemic Linux 3.1, a Debian-based Brazilian distribution for the desktop, has been released. Improvements in this release include: replacement of bootsplash by Plymouth; significant reduction of boot time; new boot options for systems with NVIDIA and ATI graphics cards; support for legacy NVIDIA drivers; introductory support for English as the first step towards greater internationalisation of Epidemic's utilities; inclusion of Esu, a new tool that gives system administrators a choice of user authentication methods for performing privileged tasks; replacement of GRUB with GRUB 2; ext4 becomes the default file system; i686-optimised Linux kernel 2.6.30; KDE 4.3 with Compiz Fusion; installer improvements.... Read the full release announcement (in Portuguese) for further details and some screenshots. Interested beta testers can download the live DVD image from here: epidemic-3.1-b2-1-i686.iso (1,637MB, MD5).

Stefano Fratepietro has announced the release of DEFT Linux 5, a Xubuntu-based distribution with a collection of open-source applications dedicated to incident response and computer forensics: "DEFT Linux 5 is based on the new Xubuntu kernel 2.6.31 and DEFT Extra 2.0 (computer forensic GUI) with the best freeware computer forensic tools. It isn't a customized Xubuntu like the previous version, it is a new concept of computer forensic live system that use LXDE as the desktop environment and Thunar as the file manager. Other features: an advanced file and directory search tool; Foremost, Scalpel and PhotoRec carving tools; complete support for most file systems; support for Logical Volume Manager; powerful tools for network forensic, such as Xplico, Wireshark, Kismet, Ettercap and Nmap...." Read the release announcement a detailed list of all new features and improvements. Download: deftv5.iso (667MB, MD5).

Timofey Korolyov has announced the availability of the first release candidate for Trustverse Desktop 4.0, a Fedora-based Linux distribution (formerly known as Linux XP) with a GNOME desktop tweaked to resemble Windows XP: "We are happy to announce Trustverse Linux Desktop 4.0 Release Candidate 1. The graphical interface of the system is quite functional and comparable with Microsoft Windows. Panels organization, menu functions, special adjustments of Nautilus file manager will make your work comfortable and effective. You can turn on 3D desktop, with various graphic effects which will make your desktop unique. Management of all basic functions is accessible in the uniform control panel. Settings utilities have intuitively clear interface and many utilities have interfaces that are close to those in Windows." See the release announcement and release notes for further information and screenshots. Download: Trustverse.Desktop.4.0.28.iso (2,823MB, MD5, torrent).

FranÃ§ois Dupoux has released an updated version of SystemRescueCd, a Gentoo-based live CD designed as a tool to carry out system administration tasks, such as rescuing data after a crash or creating and editing hard disk partitions. From the changelog: "Updated the standard kernels to Linux kernel 2.6.31.5 with Btrfs update from 2.6.32; updated the alternative kernels to Linux kernel 2.6.27.38; updated DMRAID to 1.0.0-rc16 and mdadm to 3.0.2 (hardware and software RAID); updated LVM to 2.02.51 (Logical Volume Manager version 2); updated xorg-server to version 1.6.3.901 (graphical server and drivers); support for framebuffer video in the standard kernels (boot option 'vga=xxx'); replaced Xvesafb with Xfbdev (run 'wizard' to use this graphical mode); updated GParted to 0.4.8 (graphical partitioning tool); added Super Grub Disk 1.21 (includes GRUB 1.96)." Download: systemrescuecd-x86-1.3.2.iso (238MB, MD5).

Emmanuel Bailleul has announced the release of Zenwalk Linux 6.2 "Core" edition, a minimal Zenwalk distribution without any graphical servers intended as a starting point for building a custom desktop or server system: "Zenwalk Core 6.2 is ready! Like the plain 6.2, Zenwalk Core 6.2 is mostly new code (nearly all packages have been updated), and the base system has been slightly modified (ext4, kernel 2.6.30.5). The switch to LZMA for package compression has reduced the overall size of the ISO image to 170 MB. Here's a summary of important changes: Kernel 2.6.30.5; LZMA compression for packages; ext4 as main file system; faster boot (tuned init scripts); bus auto-detection in the installer (will choose appropriate kernel depending on the architecture, SATA, PATA, SCSI); latest development tools... In brief, all you need to create a personalized build platform, your favorite desktop environment or a clean and secured server machine." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: zenwalk-core-6.2.iso (169MB, MD5).

Kai Hendry has released Webconverger 5.7, a Debian-based distribution for web kiosks with the Firefox web browser as the only application: "Webconverger 5.7 features a Debian 'Lenny' back-ported Firefox 3.5 build. Overall I would consider this release as experimental. There is a couple of new known bugs introduced with Firefox 3.5, namely you can now non-persistently change configuration settings in the about: URL and browse the local file system - this introduces possibly some security issues. I've disabled the Debian installer again, I am finding it far too complex and I am tempted to write my own simpler installer based on dd. I've enabled Firefox's Private Browsing feature by default. Strictly speaking since the ~/.mozilla directory is purged between sessions, this feature is totally unnecessary and probably introduces problems." More information can be found in the release notes. Download: webc-5.7.iso (244MB, MD5).

Carlos La Borde has announced the release of iMagic OS 2010, a commercial desktop distribution based on Ubuntu's long-term support (LTS) branch. What's new in this release? "New interface - a flashy boot screen based on our brand new wallpaper, a sleek black desktop, colored with bright blue and white icons, as well as a glowing menu button; magicOnline - an easier way to install software, magicOnline v3 sports a colorful, easy-to-use interface, and a whole host of time saving innovations; magicEssentials - small, quick applications designed to make using iMagic OS that much easier, play music through magicSongs' glossy interface, write a note in magicWriter, or remove Windows viruses with magicScan; support - live chat, magicGuides, application documentation, and integrated email support all make getting on your feet with iMagic OS even easier." Read the rest of the release announcement for all the glory details. iMagic OS is available for immediate download from the distribution's online store for US$29.99.

Miklós Vajna has announced the availability of the first preview release of Frugalware Linux 1.2, a general-purpose community distribution for intermediate users: "The Frugalware developer team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Frugalware Linux 1.2pre1, the first technical preview of the upcoming 1.2 stable release. A short and incomplete list of changes since 1.1: KMS (Kernel Mode-Setting) is now enabled by default for Intel and Radeon cards; PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules) is now part of the base system; package updates - Linux kernel 2.6.31 + fixes, GNOME 2.28, OpenOffice.org 3.1.1, Mozilla Firefox 3.5.4, more than 900 other package updates, More than 70 new packages." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: frugalware-1.2pre1-i686-dvd1.iso (4,277MB, SHA1).

Warren Woodford has announced the release of SimplyMEPIS 8.0.12, a maintenance update of the beginner-friendly, Debian-based desktop Linux distribution: "MEPIS LLC has released SimplyMEPIS 8.0.12, an update to the community edition of MEPIS 8.0. SimplyMEPIS 8.0 uses a Debian 'Lenny' stable foundation enhanced with a Long Term Support kernel, key package upgrades, and the MEPIS Assistant applications to create an up-to-date, ready to use desktop computer system. The updated components on the SimplyMEPIS ISOs include recent updates from the Debian 'Lenny' pool and also the security-patched Linux kernel 2.6.27.37, ALSA 1.0.21 and updated drivers for Aufs and NVIDIA 185.18.36. Some of the packages were updated to enable compatibility between MEPIS 8.0 and the upcoming MEPIS 8.5 which will feature KDE 4.3." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.0.12-rel_32.iso (697MB, MD5), SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.0.12-rel_64.iso (693MB, MD5).

Stephan Rickauer has announced the release of BSDanywhere 4.6, an OpenBSD-based live CD featuring the IceWM window manager: "We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of BSDanywhere 4.6 - OpenBSD at your fingertips. Here's a quick summary of the changes since 4.5: upgrade base system to OpenBSD 4.6 and packages accordingly; replace Enlightenment desktop (E17) with IceWM, for which we use a slightly adjusted 'icedesert' theme including BSDanywhere wallpapers - it starts quicker, is easy to customize and very stable; space we gained by swapping the window manager has been spent on adding the XMMS music player, the Irssi chat client, the XFE file manager, the Mutt email client and the OpenNX client; ddb, the kernel debugger, may now be invoked from the console using CTRL-ALT-ESC....." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download (MD5): bsdanywhere46-i386.iso (632MB), bsdanywhere46-amd64.iso (700MB).

The third alpha build of TinyMe 2009, a minimalist desktop distribution based on Unity Linux (a fork of PCLinuxOS) is now available for testing: "TinyMe 2009 'Acorn' Alpha 3. TinyMe is a Unity-based distribution targeted at older computers and people who want a very light and fast desktop environment. There are two ISOs being made available. One is compressed with gzip and the other with LZMA. The method of compression is the only difference between the two ISOs. While LZMA has a higher rate of compression, I have been informed it is not as nice on memory usage. I would strongly appreciate it if people would download both ISOs, burn them both, test both on as old a machine as they can." Here is the full release announcement. Download: TinyMe-2009-Alpha-3.i586.GZIP.iso (243MB, MD5).

Rafael Bonifaz has announced the release of Elastix 1.6.0, a CentOS-based Linux distribution that integrates the best tools available for Asterisk-based Private Branch Exchanges (PBX) into a single, easy-to-use interface: "We are proud to announce the release of Elastix 1.6 stable. It can be downloaded in 32-bit or 64-bit ISOs. This release has several improvements from Elastix 1.5 that fix bugs from Elastix and CentOS. Here are some of the more important changes: Asterisk updated to 1.4.26.1; Dahdi updated to 2.2.0.2; Asterisk now supports Huawei modems as trunks; Elastix 32-bit and 64-bit synchronization, now both editions have the same packages; Elastix package now provides elastix-additionals for easier updates...." See the release announcement and changelog for a complete list of changes. Download: Elastix-1.6.0-i386.iso (659MB, MD5), Elastix-1.6.0-x86_64.iso (670MB, MD5).

Christophe Lincoln has announced that a new development build of SliTaz GNU/Linux 5.4, a minimalist distribution with Openbox designed for older computers, is ready for testing: "SliTaz contributors are proud to announce the availability of a new Cooking ISO image based on over 2,100 packages available in the SliTaz repository. The full system has been rebuilt with a new toolchain using glibc 2.10.1 and GCC 4.4.1. This new Cooking uses the Linux kernel 2.6.30.6 with better hardware support and more built-in modules. The boot process has been further improved and the boot time is now faster than ever. Major packages found on the live CD, such as Firefox, have been updated to the current stable version. The tazpkg package manager supports new features, including the conversion of DEB, RPM, Arch, Slackware and IPK packages to SliTaz's native format." Visit the project's news page to read the release announcement. Download: slitaz-cooking.iso (31.5MB, MD5).

Troy Dawson has announced the release of Scientific Linux 5.4, a distribution compiled from source packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4, but enhanced with extra scientific packages, file systems and other software: "Scientific Linux 5.4 has been released for both i386 and x86_64 architecture. There are packages that we used to have to add to Scientific Linux, that are now in Enterprise 5, and so we do not have to add them ourselves. FUSE, and its kernel modules, are now provided by the upstream vendor. The Atheros wireless chipset is now supported by the upstream vendor. We have added the iwlwifi 5150 ucode (firmware), as well as updated the 3945, 4945, and 5000 ucode. Lua has been also been added to the release. Scientific Linux release 5.4 is based on the rebuilding of RPMs out of SRPMs from Enterprise 5 Server and Client, it also has all errata and bug fixes up until November 1, 2009." See the release announcement and release notes for more details. Download: SL.54.110309.DVD.i386.disc1.iso (4,027MB, MD5), SL.54.DVD.x86_64.iso (4,151MB, MD5).

Imad Sousou has announced the release of Moblin 2.1, a Linux distribution optimised for Intel Atom-based netbooks: "The Moblin project steering committee today announces the project release of Moblin 2.1 for Intel Atom processor-based netbooks and nettops. This project release includes the broadest feature additions, customer requested improvements, and overall polish to date. With this community release you will see significant feature additions and improvements including enhanced browser functionality and plug-in support, UI enhancements, support for 3G data connections, Bluetooth device management, input method support for localized languages, integrated application installer for the Moblin Garage, performance and stability improvements, and additional overall help and documentation. In addition to the various new features, this new version of Moblin includes several hundred bug fixes and incorporates feedback from users and the developer community." Read the rest of the release announcement which includes a detailed list of all improvements. Download: moblin-2.1-final-20091103-002.img (754MB, MD5).

Dimitris Papadatos has announced the release of Monomaxos 4.0, a Greek desktop-oriented distribution based on Ubuntu (and a screensaver showing magnificent images of Greece): "Monomaxos Greek Linux operating system version 4.0 (based on Ubuntu 9.04). This is the fourth release of Monomaxos localized for the Greek language that comes as a live DVD. It supports playback of every kind of multimedia file (including HD video) and any kind of Internet content out of the box and can also be used for setting up a stand alone media center (including XBMC media center). It contains OpenOffice.org 3.1 in Greek with functional spellcheck. A large variety of open source software installed in this live DVD provides solutions for all needs of the modern user." See the release announcement (in Greek) for further information. The Greek and English editions of Monomaxos 4.0 are available for download via BitTorrent (links in the announcement).

CAINE (Computer Aided INvestigative Environment) is an Ubuntu-based live CD offering a complete forensic environment in a friendly graphical user interface. The project released its 1.0 version earlier this week. Some of the main features of the new release include: "WinTaylor - a forensic front-end for Windows environments; HTML page IE-compatible to run the forensic tools in Windows; NTFS-3G updated to 2009.1.1 (resolve a NTFS-3G bug); new boot option - text mode; Ubuntu 8.04 packages updated; Firefox 3.0.14; GtkHash - a front-end for hashing files; new reporting features - investigators and case name added; multi-language report - Italian, English, German, French and Portuguese; Firefox starts with the list of tools and a brief user manual; many tools added; computer forensics patches." Visit the project's home page to read the release announcement and to learn more about this specialist distribution. Download: caine1.0.iso (695MB, MD5).

Michael Prokop has announced the release of grml 2009.10, a bootable, Debian-based live CD featuring a collection of GNU/Linux software especially for system administrators and users of text tools: "The new stable version 2009.10 was just released. New features: 'vesamenu' bootsplash - provides an easy-to-use boot selection menu; the ISO can be installed to a device directly using dd; integration of Etherboot/gPXE; integration of GRUB; boot option 'nostartx' - if using startx as default boot option the bootoption 'nostartx' disables automatic startup of X; boot option 'ethdevice' - use specified network device for network booting (PXE) instead of default; boot option 'netscript' - use this parameter to download and run a script from a specific location...." Read the detailed release notes for a full list of new features. Download: grml_2009.10.iso (671MB, MD5, torrent), grml64_2009.10.iso (685MB, MD5, torrent).

Phil Miller has announced the availability of a new development build of Chakra, an Arch Linux-based distribution and live CD with the latest KDE and a graphical system installer: "Today we are pleased to announce a development release named 'Crush' of our very own Chakra live media. It comes only as minimal edition this time due to minimal changes. I added our Chakra Tools from Git to test them out on the live media. It's a hybrid ISO as usual. Most noticeable changes and additions since 'Fuzzy': Linux kernel 2.6.31.5 + fglrx patch, updated KDE 4.3.2 packages, updated Tribe, Catalyst 9.10 + utilities, updated NVIDIA 190.x drivers, vesa mode test option." Read the rest of the release announcement for more information, minimum requirements and download links. The CD images are available from here: chakra-minimal-i686-crush.iso (660MB, MD5), chakra-minimal-x86_64-crush.iso (684MB, MD5).

Ubuntu Rescue Remix is a small live CD that provides some of the best free and open-source data recovery and forensics tools available. Today Andrew Zajac announced the release of a new version: "Version 9.10 of the very best free/libre open-source data recovery software toolkit based on Ubuntu is out. This release of Ubuntu Rescue Remix features up-to-date versions of the most powerful free/libre open-source data recovery software, including GNU ddrescue 1.11, Photorec, LVM2, and GNU fdisk. The ISO image is compatible with the excellent USB Startup Disk Creator that is included with Ubuntu since 8.04. The live environment has a very low minimum requirement due to the fact that there is no graphical interface (powerful command line only)." Here is the complete release announcement. Download (MD5): ubuntu-rescue-remix-9-10.iso (167MB).

Edubuntu has been labelled as "discontinued" ever since it became just an add-on to Ubuntu rather than a complete, installable operating system. As of yesterday, its status is once again "active": "For the past few releases, it has been an add-on CD to Ubuntu. Our users have made overwhelming requests for a full-blown installation CD again and we have listened. Edubuntu 9.10 is now a DVD that contains a full Ubuntu installation plus the Edubuntu packages and the LTSP server packages." Other new features include: "Ubuntu users can install Edubuntu's age-appropriate educational application bundles by searching for 'Edubuntu' in the Ubuntu Software Center; Sabayon, the GNOME user profile manager, has been fixed; LTSP Cluster, available from the Ubuntu repositories in 9.10, provides an easy to use load-balancing solution for LTSP servers." Here is the release announcement. Download (MD5): edubuntu-9.10-dvd-i386.iso (3,399MB, torrent), edubuntu-9.10-dvd-amd64.iso (3,434MB, torrent).

Mythbuntu 9.10, a distribution designed for home theatre systems and featuring MythTV, has been released: "Mythbuntu is built upon the base of Ubuntu and thus has all the features of Ubuntu. Features: Mythbuntu Control Centre - used to modify settings on a Mythbuntu system that are not necessarily MythTV specific; Mythbuntu Log Grabber - grabs specific log files into a single area and can upload them to pastebin for easy troubleshooting; partitioner creates one large partition (ext4); auto-builds are now easily enabled/disabled via an installable package; MythTV 0.22.0-zrc1 included; MythTV backend now uses upstart, this allows automatic restarting of the backend in the event of a failure. New features in MythTV 0.22: MythUI support allowing fancier themes; support for VDPAU; MythVideo storage groups...." More information is available in the release notes. Download (MD5): mythbuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso (576MB, torrent), mythbuntu-9.10-desktop-amd64.iso (594MB, torrent).

Xubuntu 9.10, an Ubuntu variant featuring the latest Xfce desktop, is now also available: "Xubuntu 9.10, code-named the 'Karmic Koala', is the latest and greatest version of Xubuntu. It integrates the latest Xfce desktop release with the high-quality and feature-rich core of Ubuntu, resulting in a light-weight and easy-to-use Linux distribution. New features: Xfce 4.6.1; includes the Exaile 0.3.0.x music player to make enjoying podcasts, streaming radio, audio books, and music library easier than ever before; Xfce power manager provides a more integrated power management experience; improved notify-osd integration with the Xfce desktop; faster application load times and reduced memory footprint for a number of your favorite Xfce applications...." See the release announcement and release notes for more details and upgrade notes. Download (MD5): xubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso (664MB, torrent), xubuntu-9.10-desktop-amd64.iso (673MB, torrent).

Canonical has announced the release of Ubuntu 9.10, the latest version of the project's flagship operating system for desktops, laptops and servers: "Ubuntu 9.10 brings changes small and large that all have a common purpose - to make Ubuntu the most user-friendly operating system available. Ubuntu 9.10 features a redesigned, faster boot and login experience, a revamped audio framework, and improved 3G broadband connectivity, all of which contribute to a first-class user experience. Furthermore, the innovative '100 Paper Cuts' initiative organised with the Ubuntu Community allowed users to nominate minor annoyances that impacted their enjoyment of the platform. So far over 50 fixes have been committed, removing minor irritants such as inconsistent naming or poorly organised application choices." See the press release, release notes and feature overview for more information. Download (MD5): ubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso (690MB, torrent), ubuntu-9.10-desktop-amd64.iso (691MB, torrent).

Welcome to the Ubuntu release day! The first of several expected announcement comes courtesy of the Kubuntu project: "Kubuntu 9.10: stable, social and beautiful. Kubuntu is built with the latest KDE desktop on top of a solid Ubuntu core. We believe this combination delivers a fantastic all-round home desktop experience. Our selection of tools and applications will provide you with all that you need for most of your tasks, with many more available just a few clicks away! Whether browsing the web, playing your music, composing an e-mail or connecting with your friends on social networks, Kubuntu 9.10 brings you an innovative and attractive platform for all your desktop needs." Read the full release announcement which includes a detailed overview of the new version. Download (MD5): kubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso (683MB, torrent), kubuntu-9.10-desktop-amd64.iso (696MB, torrent).

Clear Foundation has announced the availability of the second beta release of ClearOS 5.1, a CentOS-based distribution for firewalls and gateways formerly known as ClarkConnect: "The second beta has arrived. Along with the usual bug fixes, the two significant changes from beta 1 are: updated base system to CentOS 5.4 (released just last week); updated Samba to prepare for improved Windows 7 support. Other changes: added new validation to make sure user, group and flexshare names do not overlap; fixed missing 'allusers' Samba group mapping; added missing file that broke some webconfig pages; exposed the Domain Admins group in the web interface; re-added most of the missing reports, still a work in progress; fixed logo on web server start page...." Read the release announcement and release notes for further information. Download (MD5): clearos-enterprise-5.1-beta2.iso (683MB).

Joern Lindau has released Toorox 10.2009, a Gentoo-based live DVD featuring the latest KDE 4 desktop: "A new version has been finished and now it's ready for download. Content: Linux kernel 2.6.31, KDE 4.3.2, X.Org Server 1.6.5, OpenOffice.org 3.1.1, Amarok 2.2, VLC 1.0.2, IceCat 3.5.3; Portato has been added as the second software management tool (GUI for Portage) in Systemconfig, it does a good job even though it's elementary; the Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) has been added as a kernel module and will be loaded by default - if you own a graphics card with an Intel, ATI Radeon or SIS chip you can enjoy the cool desktop effects by using the free and default video driver; the LAN+WLAN script from Systemconfig has been improved; the missing Synaptics touchpad driver has been re-added and pre-configured for a handy left-click by tapping on the pad." Find more information in the release announcement. Download: Toorox_10.2009.iso (1,835MB, MD5).

Ken Smith has announced the availability of the second release candidate for FreeBSD 8.0: "The second of the release candidates for the FreeBSD 8.0 release cycle is now available. At this point we feel most of what has been discovered during public testing that is feasible to fix as part of the release process has been addressed. So the current plan is to have 8.0-RC3 in about two weeks. ISO images for all supported architectures are available on the FTP sites, and a 'memory stick' image is available for amd64/i386 architectures. For amd64/i386 architectures the CD-ROM and memory stick images include the documentation packages but no other packages. The DVD image includes the packages that will probably be available on the official release media." Here is the complete release announcement. Download: 8.0-RC2-i386-dvd1.iso.gz (1,784MB, SHA256), 8.0-RC2-amd64-dvd1.iso.gz (1,848MB, MD5).

Christian Graffer has announced the release of Endian Firewall 2.3, a CentOS-based specialist distribution for firewalls and gateways: "Today I am proud to announce the release of version 2.3 of Endian Firewall Community. This release includes many features that were previously available only to users of the Enterprise edition, as well as some completely new features. These new features are: backups can now be stored to and recovered from attached USB mass storage devices; the main page has been replaced by a dashboard with statistics about the system and its services; emails can be sent automatically for predefined events; it is possible to add time-based access control lists for the HTTP proxy; Snort rules can now be configured...." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details. Download: EFW-COMMUNITY-2.3.iso (124MB, MD5).

Stefan Lippers-Hollmann has announced that the first preview release of sidux 2009.3, a desktop distribution based on Debian's unstable branch, is now ready for testing: "A little later than originally planned, we now have the pleasure to announce the immediate availability of the first preview for sidux 2009-03 'Momos', shipping with kernel 2.6.31 and KDE 4.3.2. For 'Momos', development had to take massive upstream changes for sysvinit/ insserv, X.org and device detection, as well as sidux infrastructure changes into account, but also concentrates on furthering the KDE 4 integration into sidux and upgrading to kernel 2.6.31. Subsequently it is the first sidux release to ship without KDE 3 or Qt 3 packages." Read the comprehensive release notes for more details. Download (SHA256): sidux-2009-03-pre1-kde-lite-i386.iso (559MB), sidux-2009-03-pre1-kde-lite-amd64.iso (564MB), sidux-2009-03-pre1-xfce-lite-i386-amd64.iso (762MB).

Samuel Baggen has released a new development build of Elive, a Debian-based live CD with Enlightenment 17: "The Elive team is proud to announce the release of development version 1.9.51." What's new? "Compressed file system - if you have a computer with a tiny hard disk (like Eee PC 2 GB SSD), you can now install Elive using a compressed file system so that the entire system will fit in 1 GB; shared folders implementation with extra fixes and features; no CD required - there is no need to burn the ISO on a CD-ROM anymore, you can easily install or reinstall by simply pointing to the ISO image on the hard drive and reboot; VPN extra support; 'toram' - feature fixed; OSS - audio extra support (good for games); Catalan - option from the boot selector fixed; Linux kernel version 2.6.30." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: elive_1.9.51_unstable.iso (684MB, MD5).

Phil Miller has released a new development build of Chakra, an Arch-based desktop-oriented Linux distribution and live CD/DVD with KDE 4 and a graphical system installer: "Today we are pleased to announce the release of a development release named Fuzzy of our very own Chakra live media. It comes in two flavours, DVD and minimal, which contain a big amount of fixed bugs and polishing done all over the place. There is also a slew of new features like an improved hardware detection, an auto-updater called 'chase', updated Shaman and brand new hybrid images. Most noticeable changes and additions since Alpha 3: Linux kernel 2.6.31.4 + fglrx patch, KDE 4.3.2, updated Tribe, American locales fixed...." Here is the full release announcement. Download: chakra-minimal-i686.iso (668MB, MD5), chakra-dvd-i686.iso (1,385MB, MD5), chakra-minimal-x86_64.iso (684MB, MD5), chakra-dvd-x86_64.iso (1,413MB, MD5).

Karanbir Singh has announced the release of CentOS 5.4, a free, enterprise-class distribution built from source code for Red Hat Enterprise Linux: "We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of CentOS 5.4 for i386 and x86_64 architectures. CentOS 5.4 is based on the upstream release EL 5.4.0, and includes packages from all variants including server and client. All upstream repositories have been combined into one, to make it easier for end users to work with. And the option to further enable external repositories at install time is now available in the installer. For the first time, we are also releasing the i386 CentOS 5.4 live CD at the same time as the main distro." See the release announcement and release notes for further information. Download (mirrors, SHA1): CentOS-5.4-i386-bin-DVD.iso (3,815MB, torrent), CentOS-5.4-x86_64-bin-DVD.iso (4,405MB, torrent).

Jesse Keating has announced that Fedora 12 Beta is ready for testing: "We have reached the Fedora 12 Beta, the last important development milestone of Fedora 12. Only critical bug fixes will be pushed as updates leading up to the general release of Fedora 12, scheduled to be released in mid-November. What's new? Optimized performance, smaller and faster updates, NetworkManager broadband and other enhancements, next-generation (Ogg) Theora video, graphics support improvements, automatic reporting of crashes and SELinux issues, new Dracut initrd generation tool, PackageKit plugins, Bluetooth on-demand, Moblin graphical interface for netbooks, PulseAudio enhancements...." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download: F12-Beta-i686-Live.iso (663MB, SHA1, torrent), F12-Beta-i686-Live-KDE.iso (695MB, SHA1, torrent), F12-Beta-x86_64-Live.iso (665MB, SHA1, torrent), F12-Beta-x86_64-Live-KDE.iso (700MB, SHA1, torrent).

The MOPSLinux project has released MOPSLinux 7.0 Alpha 2.7 for public testing. Although labelled as alpha, this Slackware-based distribution with several custom tools is considered reasonably stable. Some of the main features and components of this release include: Linux kernel 2.6.31.4 with kernel modesetting for Intel and Radeon drivers; the latest versions of X.Org components, including X.Org Server 1.7.0.901 and Mesa 7.6; the latest glib, GTK+, Cairo and Pango; mparted - a new partition editor based on libparted and ncurses; mopsnet - a new network manager; preload - a method of pre-loading frequently used program into memory based on usage habits; a large number of bug fixes in mpkg, the distribution's package manager; switch to GRUB 2 with graphical boot menu.... More details in the release announcement (in Russian). Download: MOPSLinux-7.0-alpha2.7.iso (1,537MB, MD5, torrent).

Theo de Raadt has announced the release of OpenBSD 4.6. The release arrives earlier than expected; as many of the project's paying customers have already received their CDs, the 4.6 tree of the OpenBSD FTP server has been opened to allow full access to any extra packages. From the announcement: "We are pleased to announce the official release of OpenBSD 4.6. This is our 26th release on CD-ROM (and 27th via FTP). As in our previous releases, 4.6 provides significant improvements, including new features, in nearly all areas of the system: new or extended platforms - MVME141 and MVME165 boards are now supported, SGI Octane, SGI Origin 200 and SGI Fuel systems are now supported, several bugs in interrupt handling have been fixed...." Read the detailed release notes for further information. Download (torrents): i386/install46.iso (232MB, SHA256, torrent), amd64/install46.iso (254MB, SHA256).

Alan Baghumian has announced the release of Parsix GNU/Linux 3.0, a desktop distribution and live CD based on Debian's testing branch: "We proudly announce the immediate availability of Parsix GNU/Linux 3.0 aka 'Kev'. Parsix Kev brings a vast amount of new features like GNOME 2.26.3, brand new kernel based on Linux 2.6.29.6 with extra patches and drivers, updated installer system that supports separate /home partition, ext4 file system and GRUB 2, NetworkManager is finally the default networking stack, Aufs and Unionfs support, Squashfs + LZMA compression for live CD and lots of updated packages - GNU Iceweasel 3.5.3, GParted 0.4.6, Pidgin 2.6.2 and OpenOffice.org 3.1.1. Due to a vast amount of changes and new default features in this version, it is highly recommended to do a CD-ROM update-mode installation." Read the release announcement and release notes for additional details. Download: parsix_3.0r0-i386.iso (686MB, MD5), parsix_3.0r0-amd64.iso (692MB, MD5).

Anil Gulecha has announced the availability of the first alpha release of Nexenta Core Platform 3.0, a free and open-source operating system combining the OpenSolaris kernel with GNU application userland: "On behalf of the Nexenta project, I'd like to announce the availability of the Nexenta Core Platform (NCP) 3.0 alpha 1. This is the first release towards NCP 3.0. The main changes over NCP2 include: move from OpenSolaris build 104 to 124. From this release of NCP, all sunw* packages are natively built on Nexenta. The complete sources are available in the repository, along with Sun Studio 12 and other tools to roll your own kernel. Moving to the latest bits provides Nexenta users with the latest OpenSolaris features, including better storage and networking functionality with ZFS enhancements and the integration of Crossbow." Read the rest of the release announcement for further information. Download (MD5): nexenta-core_3.0-alpha1_x86.iso.zip (473MB).

Greg Kurtzer has announced the availability of Caos Linux 1.0.25, and updated release of the independently developed, light-weight, secure distribution of Linux for servers, compute nodes and network appliances: "The Caos team of developers and contributors from Infiscale are proud to announce the public release of Caos Linux NSA (Node Server Appliance) version 1.0.25, an updated release to the NSA-1.0 operating system and new Live Media installer disk. This Caos NSA 1.0 release includes all known security updates, the latest supported packages, configuration tools, better support for private and public clouds, and enhanced hardware and compatibility support from some of our supporters including Intel, SuperMicro and HP all wrapped up into a brand new Live Media installer." Here is the brief release announcement. Download (mirrors): caos-nsa-full-1.0.25.i386.iso (1,827MB, MD5), caos-nsa-full-1.0.25.x86_64.iso (1,997MB, MD5).

The first alpha release of Dreamlinux 4.0, a Debian-based desktop distribution with Xfce tweaked to resemble Mac OS X, has been released for testing: "Dreamlinux 4.0 Xfce is a new generation of the project. At the moment, Dreamlinux 4.0 Alpha is at an early stage and some features are not implemented yet. The goals of this version are low fat and fast response. Features: Linux kernel 2.6.29.3; Xfce 4.6.1; packages from Debian 'Squeeze' repositories; Smart package manager; multimedia packages from Debian Multimedia Testing; wbar replaces Engage dock; new applications folder for new Dreamlinux Executable Modules (DEM) packages; SMPlayer for all multimedia tasks, audio and video, standard or HD formats; new GTK+ theme - Go_Steel based on Aurora GTK+ engine." Read the rest of the release announcement which includes a handful of screenshots. Download link in the release announcement (BitTorrent only).

The second and also the last release candidate for Mandriva Linux 2010 is now available on public mirrors: "This RC2 version is available through following images: Free version, 32 and 64 bit DVDs; One version, KDE or GNOME (available on Monday); and Virtual images based on One images (available on Monday). These ISOs are hybrid ISOs which means you can dump it on an USB key to install it. Use Mandriva-seed available in ISOs repository, it's as easy as a click! This RC2 version is all focused on bug fixing but you will find also Moblin, KDE 4.3.2, GNOME 2.28, Poulsbo, guest account, and Nepomuk. Please note that final graphical design will be available only in final release. Please do not use this RC2 version to upgrade an existing Mandriva Linux installation." See the release announcement and release notes for more details. Download: mandriva-linux-free-rc2-2010-i586.iso (3,978MB, MD5), mandriva-linux-free-rc2-2010-x86_64.iso (3,998MB, MD5).

Robert Shingledecker has announced the release of Tiny Core Linux 2.4, a very small (10 MB) minimal Linux GUI desktop: "Tiny Core 2.4 is now posted. Change log: updated flwm_restart to use new capability of menu refresh; updated appbrowser - dropped access to TCE repository, 'Install Local' defaults to optional/; updated wbar.sh to read extra configurations from $HOME/.wbar; updated flpicsee to v1.0 - replaced Alt with Ctrl hotkyes; updated setbackground to process compressed logo template, saves much space; updated .Xdefaults for aterm transparency mode; updated .xsession to check and start flit and/or watcher...." Find more details in the changelog. Update: The developers have now released a bug-fix version: "Version 2.4.1 is posted and has a single character change, which only affects special permissions, e.g., setuid, and only when installing to the file system, i.e., not mounting. This fixes the X.Org not starting issue under such conditions." Download: tinycore_2.4.1.iso (10.6MB, MD5).

Matias Fonzo has announced the release of Dragora GNU/Linux 1.1, a 100% "libre" distribution based on the concept of simplicity and inspired by Slackware Linux: "Dragora GNU/Linux 1.1 is the evolution of its previous version 1.0. Notable changes in this version are: Linux Kernel 2.6.30.9 free; toolchain - Binutils 2.19.1, GCC 4.3.4, glibc 2.9, Coreutils 7.6, util-linux-ng 2.16.1; X.Org Server 1.6.4 and Mesa 7.5.2; the inclusion of KDE 4.3.1; new compression format based on the LZMA algorithm; support for Free Java and JavaScript through Icedtea6 and Rhino; support for Bluetooth and IrDA devices; support for printing with CUPS 1.3.11; support for the PCMCIA subsystem; new language support - Galician. It is worth mentioning the large environment such as KDE 4.3.1 (included on CD 2) and the numerous corrections and improvements in the packaging system and the Dragora system start-up." Read the full release announcement (scroll down for the English version) for further details. Download (MD5): dragora-1.1-install-CD1.iso (525MB).

LliureX 9.09, an Ubuntu-based educational distribution developed by the Council of Culture, Education and Sport at the Municipality of Valencia in Spain, has been released. New features and software packages: a LliureX control centre that allows teachers to control the activity of students in the computer room, with support for thin clients; F-Spot - an application for managing digital images; Gobby - a collaborative editor; Gmount-ISO - a graphical utility for mounting ISO images; new tools for cleaning and restoring a desktop; new tools for creating educational digital objects, such as resource preparation, mind maps and desktop recordings; a new TrueType font installer; a set of new custom tools for configuring applications and for broadcasting audio and video.... Read the detailed release announcement (in Spanish) for additional information. Download the live DVD image from here: llx0909-edu-gdesktop.iso (1,866MB).

Juergen Trapp has announced the availability of the first beta build of Yoper Linux 2009, an independent desktop distribution and live CD with KDE 4 and RPM package management system: "Juergen Trapp and Tobias Gerschner announced today the availability of the first beta release of Yoper Linux 2009, code name 'Dresden', an i686 Linux distribution optimized for simple desktop use. This is one step closer to a simple yet powerful Linux desktop for the enthusiastic Linux user, which just works, but still leaves you in control. This release ships with Linux kernel 2.6.31, X.Org 7.5, KDE 4.3.2, Firefox 3.5.3 and a vast range of other cutting-edge desktop packages. The focus of this release has been on the KDE desktop environment which has received most of the attention. The simple, but refined installer will allow you to install a full KDE desktop environment in close to 10 minutes." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download: yoper-2009-beta1-kde4.iso (696MB, MD5).

Alan Baghumian has announced the availability of the third test release of Parsix GNU/Linux 3.0, a desktop distribution based on Debian's testing branch: "The third testing release of Parsix GNU/Linux 3.0 is ready for immediate download. It brings a vast amount of new features such as: GNOME 2.26.3, brand new kernel based on Linux 2.6.29.6 with extra patches and drivers, updated installer system that supports separate /home partition, ext4 file system and GRUB 2, NetworkManager is finally default networking stack, Aufs and Unionfs support, Squashfs + LZMA compression for live CD and lots of updated packages - GNU Iceweasel 3.5.3, GParted 0.4.6, Pidgin 2.6.2 and OpenOffice.org 3.1.1. We are looking forward to release the final version next week, so please do your best to test and report any problems you see." Read the release announcement and release notes for further information. Download: parsix_3.0r0-test-3-i386.iso (687MB, MD5), parsix_3.0r0-test-3-amd64.iso (684MB, MD5).

Steven Shiau has released a new stable build of Clonezilla Live, a specialist, Debian-based live CD designed for hard disk cloning tasks: "We are happy to announce that Clonezilla Live 1.2.2-31 is the new stable release. In this release some programs were updated and some bugs fixed. Features: based on Debian 'Lenny' repository as of 2009-10-05; Linux kernel 2.6.30; updated Partclone to 0.1.9, Memtest86+ to 4.00, live-initramfs to 1.157.3; bugs in partclone.xfs and partclone.fat have been fixed; by default '-r' option is on; option '-g auto' is skipped when GRUB 2 is found in the restored OS; an option to mount NFS 4 server was added to prep-ocsroot; language files have been updated...." See the release announcement for additional technical details. Download: clonezilla-live-1.2.2-31.iso (104MB).

ClearFoundation has announced the availability of the first beta release of ClearOS 5.1, a CentOS-based distribution for servers and firewalls formerly known as ClarkConnect: "We are excited to announce that ClearOS 5.1 beta has just been released. This is an important day for the ClearFoundation community as we take the next step in our journey. You are invited to evaluate ClearOS 5.1 beta and join in the growing community surrounding the most tightly integrated and simple IT solution for small businesses and distributed environments. ClearOS 5.1 beta is based upon a fifth generation Linux distribution (historically know as ClarkConnect) with over 120,000 registered sites. ClearOS 5.1 beta works in tandem with ClearSDN to deliver cloud services such as dynamic VPN client, dynDNS, multi-WAN, offsite backup, antivirus firewall, spam blocker, web filter, cloud application integration and more." Here is the brief release announcement. Download (MD5): clearos-enterprise-5.1-beta1.iso (676MB).

FranÃ§ois Dupoux has announced the release of SystemRescueCd 1.3.1, an updated version of the specialist, Gentoo-based live CD designed for data rescue and disk partitioning tasks. New in this release: "Updated the standard kernels to Linux 2.6.31.1; updated the alternative kernels to Linux 2.6.27.35; updated NTFS-3G to version 2009.4.4 AR19 (NTFS-3G advanced release); updated the Memtest86+ floppy disk image to 4.00 ('memtestp' boot entry); updated Partimage to 0.6.8 (SSL can now be disabled at runtime); updated GDisk to 0.5.0 (GDisk is a GPT partition table manipulator); FSArchiver to 0.6.1 (crypto is now based on libgcrypt); replaced TightVNC with TigerVNC 1.0.0 and fixed the VNC server configuration; fixed DNS in the initramfs (required to boot from a URL using a hostname); added IOzone 3.242 (file system benchmarking program)." Here is the complete changelog. Download (SHA256): systemrescuecd-x86-1.3.1.iso (237MB).

Chen Ping-Hsun released xPUD 0.9.1, a new development build of the kiosk-style Linux distribution with a simplified user interface, web browser and media player: "A new development version of xPUD has been released. It includes bug fixes, provides better performance and has a new system architecture. Some of the features are still work in progress, so please always refer to the forum and FTP server for updates. New features: updated Plate user interface; auto-hide for Firefox and MPlayer in full-screen mode, mouse wheel scrolling support for Xvesa, web-based file browsing tab (experimental), kiosk mode; Linux kernel 2.6.30.5 with Aufs patch; Firefox 3.5.3; added five more languages: Finnish, Italian, Polish, Russian and Swedish; hybrid ISO/IMG format; built-in Flash player 10 support...." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download: xpud-0.9.1.iso (56.0MB).

Flavio Pereira de Oliveira has announced the release of GoblinX 3.0 "G:Standard", a Slackware-based live CD featuring the KDE 4 desktop: "The GoblinX Project is proud to announce the released of the new stable G:Standard. In the past, GoblinX Standard included five windows managers and also supported five languages, but G:Standard is now the KDE distribution of our project and it includes only the default English language. Changelog: upgraded several packages and libraries including X.Org; fixed some errors and bugs; added a few more applications; made a few changes to the KDE desktop in order to improve usability; some GTK+ applications added to fill missing Qt applications; added Opera 10 with full Slik/Webmount support." Here is the full release announcement. Download: g.Standard-3.0.iso (696MB, MD5).

Mitsuhoro Kojima has announced the release of Plamo Linux 4.7, a Slackware-inspired Japanese Linux distribution designed for intermediate and advanced users. This release comes with some major software updates, including Linux kernel 2.6.30.7, GCC 4.3.4, glibc 2.10.1, KDE 4.3.1, GNOME 2.26, Xfce 4.6.1, ptetex3 20090610 and OpenOffice.org 3.1.1. KDE especially has been through some substantial tweaking which should make it a much improved implementation of the popular desktop. The distribution comes on a full 3GB DVD image, but for those who prefer to download just what they need, there are also five CD images, with CD1 containing the based system and X.Org, CD2 includes Xfce, CD3 has KDE, TeTeX and kernel sources, CD4 includes GNOME and OpenOffice.org, while CD5 has all the contributed packages. Read the release announcement (in Japanese) for further information. Download the DVD image from here: plamo-4.7_dvd.iso (2,955MB, MD5).

Untangle, Inc. has announced the release of Untangle Gateway 7.0, a Debian-based network gateway with pluggable modules for network applications: "Today we announced our latest version, Untangle 7.0, which includes new reporting features that provide unmatched visibility at the Internet gateway to help small businesses identify web misuse and troubleshoot network issues for increased productivity. Untangle 7.0 enhanced reporting features allow small businesses to: monitor behavior at the user, client and incident level to detect productivity issues; understand traffic flows and network usage patterns to optimize performance; provide web content analysis to prevent bandwidth issues and policy violations; log access to sensitive data to respond to any security incidents; manage and reduce vulnerabilities associated with social networking and rich media sites." See the blog announcement and press release for more information. Download: untangle_700.iso (438MB).

Astaro has announced the release of Astaro Security Gateway 7.5, a specialist distribution for firewalls and gateways with a web-based system administration tool: "We are proud to announce that the general availability (GA) of Astaro Security Gateway 7.5 has been released. 7.5 includes great new features and functions, many of which were requested by our customers. To name just a few, there is a new intrusion protection engine, real-time bandwidth monitoring, a transparent HTTP proxy mode with captive authentication portal, and the ability to import and export various lists. Astaro 7.5 adds over 50 new features and conveniences and 700+ individual changes. This release is for all Astaro Gateway products." Read the detailed release announcement for additional information. Download (MD5): asg-7.500.iso (531MB).

Phil Miller has announced the availability of the third alpha build of the inaugural release of Chakra, a user-friendly distribution and live CD based on Arch Linux: "Today we are pleased to announce the release of Alpha 3 (Test) of the Chakra live CD. It contains a big amount of fixed bugs and polishing, which has been done all over the place. There is also a slew of new features like improved hardware detection, an auto-updater called 'chase', updated 'shaman', and a brand new USB image to allow installation without wasting a CD. Most noticeable changes and additions since Alpha 2: KDE 4.3.1 + extra applications and components; Linux kernel 2.6.30.6 including the fglrx patch; K3b 2.0 preview; Kaffeine 1.0 preview; printing support; updated theme; improved X.Org setup...." See the release announcement and release notes for further details. Download (MD5): chakra-minimal-i686-alpha3.iso (680MB), chakra-minimal-x86_64-alpha3.iso (697MB).

Alexander Tratsevskiy has announced the release of Calculate Linux 9.9, a Gentoo-based desktop and server distribution. Changes in this version include: built on top of Calculate Linux Scratch; switch to Aufs as the live file system; replaced XChat with Konversation and GStarDict with GoldenDict, added KDE Partition Manager; Mozilla Firefox is now the default web browser; Compiz has been integrated with the Xfce desktop; added proprietary NVIDIA driver to the CLDX edition; updated to Linux kernel 2.6.30 and KDE 4.3; initrd and kernel are now packed using LZMA compressions; various other speed optimisations. Here is the full press release (in Russian). Calculate Linux comes in the form of live DVDs with either KDE (CLD) or Xfce (CLDX) desktops; download the ISO images from here: cld-9.9-i686.iso (1,712MB, MD5, torrent), cldx-9.9-i686.iso (1,015MB, MD5, torrent), cld-9.9-x86_64.iso (1,804MB, MD5, torrent), cldx-9.9-x86_64.iso (1,144MB, MD5, torrent).

Matthew Summers has announced the availability of a testing release of Gentoo Linux 10.0, a special 10-year anniversary Gentoo live DVD: "In honor of Gentoo's 10th birthday, we are producing a new live DVD. We need you to test it on as many x86 and x86_64 machines as you can and post bugs. The x86-x86_64 live DVD will work on x86 or x86_64 processors. If your architecture is x86 boot with the default 'gentoo'. If your architecture is amd64 boot with gentoo64. The AMD64 live DVD is for amd64 only. So give us a hand by testing like crazy and posting bugs and we'll have the greatest live DVD ever." The very brief release announcement contains no technical information, but the live DVD comes with Linux kernel 2.6.30, glibc 2.9 and GCC 4.3.2, and boots into KDE 4.3.1 by default (GNOME 2.24 and Xfce 4.6.1 are also available). It can be installed to a hard disk. Interested testers can download the DVD images from here: livedvd-x86-x86_64-10.0.iso (1,849MB, MD5), livedvd-amd64-10.0.iso (1,899MB, MD5).

Paul Sherman has announced the release of Absolute Linux 13.0.2, a new update of the lightweight distribution based on Slackware Linux: "Absolute Linux 13.0.2 released. GTK+ themes engines included along with customized theme changing utility (gtk-chtheme) that calls script that changes IceWM theme, PCMan File Manager desktop background and ROX-Filer background. Makes our lightweight interface more cohesive, but if any setting should fail it does so silently so you can hack away changing stuff and it will not mess up your system. Brasero has replaced K3b. KDE libraries, KDE Multimedia and Arts have all been removed. If you want KDE, you can safely drop in the entire Slackware KDE packages, but for the UI-stay-out-of-my-way types, we've eliminated more overhead. Updates include: Firefox, SeaMonkey, Flash plugin, IceWM and a number of scripts in the a/etc package." Here is the full release announcement. Download (MD5): absolute-13.0.2.iso (685MB).

Imad Sousou has announced the release of Moblin 2.0, a Linux distribution optimised for netbooks and other mobile Internet devices: "The Moblin steering committee is pleased to announce three exciting new developments within the Moblin project: the project release of Moblin 2.0 for Intel Atom processor-based netbooks; a preview of the Moblin Garage and Moblin Application Installer; a community preview release of Moblin 2.1 for Intel Atom Processor-based netbooks and nettops for early development. The project release of Moblin 2.0 is now available. With this community release you can expect to see OSVs and OEMs shipping products based on Moblin 2.0 for netbooks. Moblin 2.0 features a rich user interface that was developed from the ground up, for netbook form factors and usage models, to provide an outstanding visual user experience that integrates Internet browsing, media consumption, and social networking." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details. Download: moblin-2.0-final.img (721MB, MD5).

Paul Blankenbaker has announced the release of Network Security Toolkit (NST) 2.11.0, a Fedora-based live DVD providing easy access to best-of-breed open source network security applications: "We are pleased to announce the latest NST release- version 2.11.0. This release is based on Fedora 11 using Linux kernel 2.6.30.5. The architecture for building an NST distribution has been completely redesigned and engineered. Starting with this release, all system, network and security applications are now included as RPM packages. This allowed us to take advantage of the Fedora live CD project for spinning off an 'NST Live' distribution. This project will also help make it easier to develop future releases of NST. Here are some of the highlights for this release: The entire NST distribution is RPM-based and an NST system can be maintained using redundant RPM repositories; NST is now extensible - add new applications with YUM...." Please visit the project's home page to read the full release announcement. Download (MD5): nst-2.11.0.i586.iso (1,201MB, MD5).

Samuel Baggen has released a new development build of Elive, version 1.9.44, a distribution and live CD featuring the latest Enlightenment 17 and based on the stable Debian GNU/Linux 5.0: "The Elive team is proud to announce the release of the development version 1.9.44. Changes: live CD - improved detection of partitions; RAM - Memtest86+ updated to version 2.11 with more features and special support for Intel Core 2 Duo computer processors; installer - work on installer to manage mounts and umounts better, but please report any problems that you may encounter with the installer on the IRC channel; Linux kernel version 2.6.26.8 (revision 41). Note that this is a development version." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: elive_1.9.44_unstable.iso (692MB, MD5).

Glenn Cady has announced the release of Ultimate Edition 2.3 "Gamers" edition, an Ubuntu-based distribution for gamers: "Ultimate Edition 2.3 'Gamers' has been released. I am not going to make a huge deal out of this, but it certainly is a nice toy. Especially for you gamers out there. Ultimate Edition 2.3 'Gamers' has the following games pre-installed: 3D chess, Airstrike, Aisleriot Solitaire, Barrage, Blackjack, Boswars, Brutal Chess, BzFlag, Chess, Dream Chess, Five or more, Foo Billiard, Four-in-a-row, Freecell, Gbrainy, Glest, Gnometris, Gridwars, Hearts, Lango, Kslotski.... Play on Linux is included in this distro, which allows playing of Windows games in a nearly seamless manner. Many additional Linux games available though Ultamatix tool are also included in the distro. It uses the Ultimate Edition 2.4 theme pack, but is Jaunty-based." Here is the full release announcement. Download: ultimate-edition-2.3-gamers-x86.iso (3,862MB, MD5).

Alan Baghumian has announced the availability of the second test release of Parsix GNU/Linux 3.0, a desktop distribution based on Debian's testing branch: "After a long delay waiting for X.Org 7.4 transition, the second testing release of Parsix GNU/Linux 3.0 is finally out. This version brings a vast amount of new features like: GNOME 2.26.3, a brand new kernel based on Linux 2.6.29.6 with extra patches and drivers, updated installer system that supports separate /home partition, ext4 file system and GRUB 2, NetworkManager as the default networking stack, Aufs and Unionfs support, Squashfs + LZMA compression for live CD and lots of updated packages, including GNU Iceweasel 3.5.2, GParted 0.4.6, Pidgin 2.6.2, OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 and Compiz Fusion 0.8.2." See the release announcement and release notes for further details. Download: parsix_3.0r0-test-2-i386.iso (691MB, MD5), parsix_3.0r0-test-2-amd64.iso (695MB, MD5).

The first release candidate for FreeBSD 8.0 is ready for testing: "The first of the release candidates for the FreeBSD 8.0 release cycle is now available. How many RCs we have will depend on how well 8.0-RC1 does. At the moment only one more RC is on the schedule but odds are fairly high we will wind up inserting at least one more RC. Between BETA4 and RC1 a lot of work has gone into IPv6 issues as well as many other issues that have been brought up from the public testing. And a patch set was committed by the people who handle porting ZFS to FreeBSD that they felt makes ZFS production-ready. There are two known problems with 8.0-RC1: local IPv6 link-local addresses are not reachable and the flowtable may direct packets to the wrong interface under certain routing conditions." Here is the full release announcement. Download: 8.0-RC1-i386-dvd1.iso.gz (1,776MB, SHA256), 8.0-RC1-amd64-dvd1.iso.gz (1,841MB, SHA256).

Anne Nicolas has announced the availability of the first release candidate for Mandriva Linux 2010: "Mandriva Linux 2010 RC1 is now available on public mirrors. This RC1 version is available as: 'Free' edition, 32-bit and 64-bit installation DVDs; dual-architecture installation CDs; 'One' installable live CDs with either KDE or GNOME; VirtualBox image. These ISOs are hybrid images which means that you can dump them on an USB key; use Mandriva-seeds - it's as easy as a click! This RC1 is a bug-fix release with some major updates: many bug fixes in Mandriva tools, especially in network tools; many bug fixes in both KDE and GNOME desktop environments; kernel 2.6.31 final release. This release comes with new integration of Nepomuk in KDE. This experimental functionality helps you to add notes, annotations and labels to files." See the release announcement and release notes for further details. Download: mandriva-linux-free-rc1-2010-i586.iso (3,978MB, MD5), mandriva-linux-free-rc1-2010-x86_64.iso (4,053MB, MD5).

Patrick Verner has released Parted Magic 4.5, a small Linux live CD designed primarily as a hard disk partitioning utility: "This new version of Parted Magic updates the graphical server X.Org, expands networking, improves RAM usage, and fixes some bugs. To combat some of the problems associated with the newer versions of X.Org and Intel chipsets, Parted Magic offers driver versions intel-2.4.1, intel-2.5.1, intel-2.6.3, intel-2.7.1 as boot options. There is a new PPPoE option added to the 'Start Network' program. RAM usage has been significantly reduced for the 'Default settings (Runs from RAM)' and 'Live with low RAM settings' boot options. The default option only requires 192 MB, from 256 MB in version 4.4, to completely run Parted Magic from RAM. The biggest gain was with the low RAM option because that now only requires 48 MB to run." Visit the project's home page to read the release announcement. Download (MD5): pmagic-4.5.iso.zip (79.0MB).

The first release candidate for Endian Firewall 2.3, a specialist firewall distribution based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, is now available for testing: "Today we are proud to announce the first release candidate of our Endian Firewall Community version 2.3. This release includes many features that were previously available only to users of the Enterprise edition as well as some completely new features. These features are: backups can now be stored to and recovered from attached USB mass storage devices; the main page has been replaced by a dashboard with statistics about the system and its services as well as live-graphs for incoming and outgoing traffic; emails can be sent automatically for predefined events; with the new interface it is possible to add time-based access control lists for the HTTP proxy...." Visit the project's news page to read the full release announcement. Download: EFW-COMMUNITY-2.3-rc1.iso (123MB, MD5).

Barry Kauler has announced the release of Puppy Linux 4.3: "Puppy Linux version 4.3 released. Highlights: Linux kernel 2.6.30.5 configured for SMP (multi-processor) systems, with support for the ext4 file system and patched for Aufs2; Internet by dial-up - the kernel has drivers for many modems, including Agere, ESS, Lucent, Conexant, SmartLink, PCTEL and Intel chipsets; Pstreamvid - a great GUI for playing Internet TV; JWM theme maker; Psync - synchronises the clock to an Internet time server; SQLiteManager - a front-end for SQLite and an add-on to SeaMonkey; Hiawatha - a very small and extremely secure web server to serve CUPS, PPLOG and QUISP pages; a screenshot utility based on mtPaint, but with a very basic GUI; Pmirrorget for downloading a complete web site...." Read the detailed release announcement for a complete list of changes and new features. Download: pup-430.iso (105MB, MD5).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the sixth alpha release of Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala": "Welcome to Karmic Koala Alpha 6, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.10." New features in this alpha include Upstart and Ubuntu Software Store: "As part of our boot performance work, we have now transitioned to Upstart. If you are testing on your primary machine, we strongly suggest having an Ubuntu Karmic alpha 5 live CD available, or creating an Alpha 5 USB start-up disk before doing an upgrade. Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 6 includes the Ubuntu Software Store. It is temporarily located under System, with a plan to replace AddRemove in the Beta release." See the release announcement and release notes for more information and known issues. Download (SHA256): karmic-desktop-i386.iso (694MB, torrent), karmic-desktop-amd64.iso (695MB, torrent). Besides Ubuntu, "Karmic Koala" Alpha 6 images for Kubuntu (download, release notes), Xubuntu (download), Ubuntu Studio (download) and Mythbuntu (download) have also been released.

Matthew Dillon has announced the release of DragonFly BSD 2.4, a general-purpose operating system originally forked from FreeBSD 4.x: "The DragonFly 2.4 release is here! Three release options are now available: a bare-bones CD image, a DVD image which includes a fully operational X environment, and a bare-bones bootable USB disk-key image. In addition we will for the first time be shipping a 64-bit ISO image. 64-bit support is stable but there will only be limited 'pkgsrc' support in this release. DragonFly BSD 2.4 is a bigger release than normal. The single most invasive change is the introduction of DEVFS. The /dev file system is now mounted by the kernel after it mounts the root file system. All major and minor numbers have changed and the old /dev is no longer meaningful." Read the detailed release announcement for a complete list of changes and upgrade notes. Download (MD5): dfly-gui-2.4.0_REL.iso.gz (722MB), dfly-2.4.0_REL.img.gz (217MB), dfly-amd64-2.4.0_REL.iso.gz (219MB).

Muayyad Al-Sadi has announced the release of Ojuba 3, a Fedora-based distribution with Islamic utilities and support for Arabic: "We are proud to announce the release of Ojuba 3. This release comes in two forms: a live DVD/USB and an installation DVD which can be used to upgrade from a previous release. The installation DVD contains packages and serves as a repository for offline installation of packages. It includes GNOME 2.26, KDE 4.3.1, Xfce 4.6.1, LXDE. Features: Ojuba control center, original artwork, Quran browser and Thwab library, many Arabic and Islamic books like Sunan and classical dictionaries, prayer time reminder, Monajat supplications, Hijri calendar, Sun JRE, multimedia support, mlterm with support for Arabic. This release is based on Fedora 11 and it includes fast boot, ext4 support, fingerprint login...." Here is the full release announcement with several screenshots. Download (SHA1): ojuba-3-Live.iso (1,016MB), ojuba-3-i386-DVD.iso (4,149MB).

Oracle has announced the release of Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 Update 4, an enterprise-level distribution based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4: "Oracle is pleased to announce the general availability of Enterprise Linux Release 5 Update 4 for x86 (32-bit) and x86_64 (64-bit) architectures. This update includes the following kernel/driver changes: bug fixes added by Oracle - check to see if hypervisor supports memory reservation change, add Entropy support to IGB, add Xen pv/bonding netconsole support, shrink zone patch, fix aacraid not to reset during kexec, fix failure of file creation from hpux client; fixes and additions from the upstream distribution provider - a new tunable parameter has been added to the kernel, allowing system administrators to change the maximum number of modified pages kupdate writes to disk...." Read the rest of the release announcement for a complete technical changelog. Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 Update 4 is available for free download from the company's E-Delivery page (after filling in a short registration form).

FranÃ§ois Dupoux has released SystemRescueCd 1.3.0, a Gentoo-based live CD designed for administering or repairing an operating system and data after a crash. What's new in version 1.3.0? "Updated the standard kernels to Linux kernel 2.6.31; updated FSArchiver to 0.5.9 (better NTFS support); updated NTFS-3G to version 2009.4.4 AR17 (NTFS-3G advanced release); updated e2fsprogs to 1.41.9 (ext2, ext3, ext4 file system tools); Linux kernel 2.6.31 and btrfs-progs 0.19 are using a new btrfs format; added gdisk 0.3.1 (gdisk is a GPT partition table manipulator); updated the Xfce desktop environment to version 4.6.1; updated Python to version 2.6.2; updated Mozilla Firefox to version 3.5.2." Read the complete changelog for further details. Download the live CD image from here: systemrescuecd-x86-1.3.0.iso (236MB, MD5).

Karl Goetz has announced the release of gNewSense 2.3, a 100% free distribution as defined by Free Software Foundation, based on Ubuntu 8.04 LTS: "The gNewSense project is pleased to announce version 2.3 of its FSF free GNU/Linux distribution, in the form of a point update to the release, code-named 'deltah'. Users of earlier gNewSense 2.x releases can update to 2.3 with a standard system update. A short list of relevant changes for this release is: freedom bugs fixed - several packages freed, over 15 packages removed, over 20 sourceless files removed from Linux; install CD changes: removed Tomboy and F-Spot, added gNote, gThumb, JFS and XFS. This release contains all security updates made up to 2009-09-11. As with other 2.x releases, this gNewSense release is available as a live CD for x86 (i386) systems, using GNOME as the default desktop environment (others, such as Xfce or KDE, are available post installation)." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: gnewsense-livecd-deltah-i386-2.3.iso (613MB, MD5, torrent).

Thierry Nuttens has announced the release of NuTyX 2009, a distribution based on Linux From Scratch and CRUX, designed primarily for French-speaking intermediate Linux users. The release is built of top of a brand new Linux kernel 2.6.31 and includes GCC 4.4.1, glibc 2.10.1, X.Org Server 1.6.1, KDE 4.3.1, Xfce 4.6.1, OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 and Firefox 3.5.3, just to name a few of the more popular software packages. Five bootable ISO images are available for download: the "Mini" edition (a 11 MB network installation image), the "Base" edition (a 172 MB base system without X window), and three editions with the choice of LXDE, Xfce or KDE as the preferred desktop. For users who have installed the second release candidate or an earlier development release, a fresh installation is recommended. Please refer to the release announcement (in French) for additional details and installation instructions. Download: NuTyX2009-i686-LXDE.iso (278MB MD5), NuTyX2009-i686-XFCE.iso (529MB MD5), NuTyX2009-i686-KDE.iso (701MB MD5).

Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 5.5, a live, Debian-based web kiosk with Firefox: "Webconverger 5.5 is a much delayed release which is not as polished as I would have liked. Instead of delaying any further, I would appreciate you giving these experimental features a try and giving feedback on them: allow ICMP ping replies so that you can check the machine is up and running; allow for several home pages to be specified which get opened in separate tabs; noclutter added, which hides the mouse cursor after a couple of seconds of inactivity; several new experimental hooks to upgrade and setup CJK locales; a new PDF viewer based on ePDFView, which has a decent printing dialog; experimental option to install Webconverger onto a hard drive." Read the rest of the release notes for further information. Download: webc-5.5.iso (260MB MD5).

Hymera Engineering has announced the release of Hymera Open 20090910, a desktop Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux. The most important changes in this release include: introduction of a driver manager, a graphical application for managing device drivers; Hymera desktop recovery provides a simple way to instantly restore the default settings and desktop screenlets; Hymera video recovery, an innovative procedure for the recovery of the video driver; IMobile, an advanced Internet connection manager via USB keys and mobile phones; a new language manager, personalized and easy to use. Visit the distribution's news page (in Italian) to read the release announcement. Download (MD5) the English or the Italian edition of Hymera Open 20090910 from here: Hymera-Open-20090910_En.iso (3,044MB), Hymera-Open-20090910_It.iso (3,062MB).

Paul Sherman has announced the release of Absolute Linux 13.0, a Slackware-based lightweight distribution using the IceWM window manager: "Absolute 13.0 released. During the large number of changes from 12.x to 13 lots of things were broken as I kept up with Slackware and pounded out customizations for IceWM and PCMan File Manager and scripted helper utilities. Focus since end of July, however, has been on making everything work. I managed to get all quirks and bugs out. PCMan File Manager crashes were isolated to thumbnail image use, so that option has been eliminated and integration between ROX and PCMan File Manager has been increased (quick thumbnails and resizing, among other handy features). K3b (Qt 4 version) now closes multi-session disks properly. AbiWord prints without crashing. A log of applications now fit on the CD using the new TXZ packaging; OpenOffice.org is the most noteworthy base install inclusion." Read the rest of the release announcement for a few more technical details. Download (MD5): absolute-13.0.iso (689MB).

Rubén RodrÃ­guez Pérez has announced the release of Trisquel GNU/Linux 3.0, a 100% "libre" desktop distribution based on Ubuntu: "We are proud to announce the Trisquel GNU/Linux 3.0 release. It is the first of a new series of short-term support releases that include highly updated software, improved performance and better hardware compatibility. The 3.0 version will be upgraded to 3.5 in six months, and will get updates for another six months. The 2.2 LTS version will get security updates until 2013. Trisquel 3.0 includes: Linux-libre 2.6.28, GNOME and Evolution 2.26, OpenOffice.org 3.0, Trisquel web browser (Mozilla-based) 3.0, GIMP 2.6. It also packs many utilities like Pidgin, Inkscape, Transmission, Brasero, the GNOME set of games and even the media center Elisa. Trisquel provides support for almost every audio and video format including copy protected DVDs, and is compatible with Java and Flash technologies, using just free software." Here is the full release announcement. Download (MD5): trisquel_3.0_i686.iso (684MB, torrent), trisquel_3.0_amd64.iso (690MB, torrent).

Chanrithy Thim has announced the release of moonOS 3, an Ubuntu-based distribution with Enlightenment as the default window manager and interesting, original artwork: "This 3rd release of moonOS comes with numerous bug fixes and many improvements. Based on Ubuntu 9.04, Linux kernel 2.6.28 and X.Org 7.4, moonOS 3 comes with a new tool called moonSoftware, XMPP video support for Pidgin and many other improvements." Some of the new features include: "moonControl with a new and clean interface; new interface for moonGrub with a feature for theme creation; moonSoftware - to quickly browse through available software, view screenshots and sort by various criteria; EFL Keys - a virtual keyboard for touch-screen application; Firefox 3.5 with Moonlight plugin and support for Silverlight 1.x; OpenOffice.org 3.1.1...." See the release announcement, release notes and what's new page for all the details. Download: moonos-3-makara-desktop-i386.iso (691MB, MD5).

Attila Crăciun has announced the release of Bluewhite64 Linux 13.0, an unofficial 64-bit port of Slackware Linux 13.0 with up-to-date KDE: "Bluewhite64 Linux 13.0 is released. This new version of Bluewhite64 brings many new and interesting features, improvements and packages updates. The first major change is a new and improved package format, we have switched to the LZMA compression algorithm to reduce the packages size and to improve the decompression speed. We have updated the X.Org Server to version 1.6.3, along with the drivers, libraries and utilities. Other important changes include a new generic Linux kernel 2.6.30.5 with more modules enabled; the new KDE 4.3.1 and Xfce 4.6.1 desktop environments; the Mozilla products (the latest versions of Firefox, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey)...." Read the release announcement and release notes for further details. Download: Bluewhite64-13.0-DVD.iso (4,068MB, MD5).

Tilman Sauerbeck has announced the release of CRUX 2.6, a lightweight, i686-optimised Linux distribution targetted at experienced Linux users: "CRUX 2.6 has been released. Release notes: includes glibc 2.10.1, GCC 4.4.1 and Binutils 2.19.1, Linux kernel 2.6.30.5 and X.Org 7.4; XZ/LZMA support has been added to libarchive, it's possible to use .xz and .lzma source-archives in our ports now; libusb has been updated to version 1.0, to keep compatibility to version 0.1 a new port libusb-compat has been added to core; libblkid, blkid, findfs, fsck, libuuid, uuidd and uuidgen are now provided by util-linux-ng instead of e2fsprogs; using modprobe.conf to configure modprobe is deprecated, use *.conf files in modprobe.d instead; rdate has been replaced by openrdate; lvm2 is now available during install." See the release announcement and release notes for additional technical details. Download (MD5): crux-2.6.iso (264MB).

Flavio Pereira de Oliveira has announced the release of GoblinX 3.0 "G:Noblin", a Slackware-based distribution and live CD with GNOME and GTK+ applications: "The GoblinX Project is proud to announce the release of the new stable G:Noblin distribution. G:Noblin is GoblinX GNOME. This edition is ideal for those users who prefer the GNOME desktop environment. The G:Noblin edition includes the latest packages of GNOME 2.24 and several improvements and modifications in the core of the system. Some important changes are: several bugs and errors have been corrected, added Vuze and Java JRE, some duplicated applications were removed, and some interfaces were rebuilt to look better inside netbooks. Another major change is the release of a distribution without removing any files and locales." Read the complete release announcement for further details. Download (MD5): g.Noblin-3.0.iso (697MB).

Jon Ramvi has announced the release of Easy Peasy 1.5, an Ubuntu-based distribution designed for netbooks featuring the Ubuntu Netbook Remix interface: "Easy Peasy one-point-five (or as I would say it: en-komma-fem) is finished, and it finished up real good. We've taken our time to iron out bugs and put in new features to again give the netbook community a great Linux distribution. New in Easy Peasy 1.5: a new, green visual look; awesome Linux kernel (2.6.30) optimized for netbooks with faster start-up built; support for more netbooks; upgraded software (Google Picasa, OpenOffice.org 3.1); built off Ubuntu 9.04; smaller hard drive footprint; uses the new ext4 file system as default; UXA by default - the first distro to deliver real composite desktop which means it's possible to run 3D in 3D (i.e. the netbook interface and desktop effects); Banshee as default music player instead of Songbird...." Here is the full release announcement. Download: easypeasy-1.5.img.iso (826MB), easypeasy-1.5.iso (817MB).

Ken Smith has announced the availability of the fourth beta release of FreeBSD 8.0: "The fourth and most likely final BETA build for the FreeBSD 8.0 release cycle is now available. Since BETA3 many bugs that were identified from testing done so far were addressed. Some of the bigger issues were an mbuf leak along with work done in the general IPv6, jail, and USB subsystems. Issues in other areas have been addressed as well. Due to the issues identified in this early phase of testing, the schedule for release has been pushed back. The current target for the release itself is September 29th, with two RC builds between now and then. ISO images for all supported architectures are available on the FTP sites and a 'memory stick' images are available for the amd64 and i386 architectures." Read the rest of the release announcement for additional details. Download: 8.0-BETA4-i386-dvd1.iso.gz (1,773MB, SHA256), 8.0-BETA4-amd64-dvd1.iso.gz (1,837MB, SHA256).

Peter Hofer has announced the release of DesktopBSD 1.7, a desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD 7.2 and with KDE 3.5.10 as the default desktop: "I am glad to announce the immediate availability of DesktopBSD 1.7. This new release comes with FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE as base system and KDE 3.5.10 as desktop environment and includes a large number of pre-installed applications. The easy-to-use graphical installer and utilities allow for a simple installation and configuration process. Notable changes include: OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 as feature-rich office suite; pre-installed Java SE 6 environment; X.Org release 7.4 with extensive graphics hardware support; large number of enhancements and fixes." According to the release announcement, this is the project's last release. Download (SHA256) the installable live DVDs from here: DesktopBSD-1.7-i386.iso (1,853MB), DesktopBSD-1.7-amd64.iso (1,919MB).

Miklós Vajna has announced the release of Frugalware Linux 1.1, a general-purpose distribution designed for intermediate Linux users: "The Frugalware developer team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Frugalware Linux 1.1, our eleventh stable release. No new features have been added since 1.1rc2, but 177 changes have been made to fix minor bugs. Here are the most important changes since 1.0: up-to-date packages - Linux kernel 2.6.30.5, glibc 2.10.1, X.Org 7.4 with X.Org Server 1.6, GNOME 2.26.3, Xfce 4.6.1, GCC 4.4.0; major review in the documentation; an 64-bit Flash plugin is now part of the default installation; major update of the graphical installer (fwife); packaged Android SDK for those who want network access through their Android phones; new artwork includes a new wallpaper and a new GNOME theme." Here is the full release announcement. Download (SHA1): frugalware-1.1-i686-dvd1.iso (4,289MB, torrent), frugalware-1.1-x86_64-dvd1.iso (4,290MB, torrent).

Jean-Philippe Guillemin has announced the release of Zenwalk Linux 6.2, a Slackware-based distribution with advanced package management and Xfce as the default desktop: "Zenwalk 6.2 has been released. Zenwalk 6.2 is mostly new code (nearly all packages have been updated), and the base system has been slightly modified (ext4, Linux kernel 2.6.30.5). The switch to LZMA for package compression has reduced the overall size of the ISO image (490 MB) while allowing us to provide more applications and drivers. Here's a summary of the other important changes: the new XFCE 4.6.1; OpenOffice.org 3.1.0 (fast, optimized version); new Netpkg featuring a refined interface, rollback support and instant install with dependencies control; a complete set of HP printers drivers are included; faster boot (tuned init scripts); bus auto-detection in the installer (will choose appropriate kernel depending on the architecture, SATA, PATA, SCSI)." Read the complete release announcement for more information. Download: zenwalk-6.2.iso (492MB, MD5).

Robert Shingledecker has announced the release of Tiny Core Linux 2.3, an updated version of the world's smallest desktop Linux distribution: "Tiny Core Linux 2.3 is now posted. Change log: updated flwm replaces JWM as default, use jwm-snapshot extension for the latest JWM; new official Tiny Core logo added to base; new flit an Fltk GUI toolbar for battery, date, and sound controls in flwm; new 'noautologin' boot code; new 'appsaudit' GUI; new tce-audit command-line script engine for 'appsaudit'; new tcz2ram.flg placed in tce directory will cause all TCZs to be loaded into RAM; upgraded BusyBox to 1.14.3; updated tce2tcz.sh to use Squashfs; updated xsetup.sh to remove the xorg.conf requirement to support X.Org without configuration file; updated appbrowser to support the new tce-load option flags, and tcz2ram options, as well as both install and mount buttons for TCZs...." See the rest of changelog for further technical details. Download: tinycore_2.3.iso (10.9MB, MD5).

Samuel Baggen has announced the availability of Elive 1.9.42 "Compiz" edition, an updated development build of the Debian-based distribution focusing on tweaking Enlightenment 17 into an efficient and usable desktop: "The Elive team is proud to announce the release of Elive development version 1.9.42 (Compiz)." New features in this release: "3g-dialer - if you want to connect to the Internet from your 3G/HDSPA modem, you can use the 3g-dialer (it even supports PIN code); Thunar - more features have been added, specially for images and audio files, using right-click with a mouse; SSH - using SSH will allow you to have direct access to Enlightenment remote features (if the remote user is also running E17); aMSN - new chat sessions won't open in separate windows; slamr - the bug seems to have been fixed; Linux kernel version 2.6.26.8 (revision 41)." Here is the full release announcement. Download: elive_1.9.42_unstable.iso (694MB, MD5).

The fifth alpha release of Ubuntu 9.10, code name "Karmic Koala", is out and ready for testing: "Welcome to Karmic Koala Alpha 5, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.10." The standard release announcement contains no new information while the release notes have been slightly updated to reflect the introduction of a new development version of GNOME (2.27.91 as opposed to 2.27.4 in Alpha 4) and a newer kernel (version 2.6.31-rc8 updated from 2.6.31-rc5 in Alpha 4). Otherwise they contain the same feature list as the previous release notes: updated packages, Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud, a new file sharing service, new Intel video driver architecture, GCC 4.4 as the default compiler, ext4 as the default file system and GRUB 2 as the default bootloader. Those interested in testing the new build can download (SHA256) the desktop live CD images from here: karmic-desktop-i386.iso (696MB, torrent), karmic-desktop-amd64.iso (698MB, torrent). Besides Ubuntu, "Karmic Koala" Alpha 5 images for Kubuntu (download, release notes), Xubuntu (download) and Mythbuntu (download) are also available.

Red Hat has announced the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.4: "Red Hat is pleased to announce the availability of the latest update to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, release 5.4. New in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 is a reorganization of the release note material; now the release notes are a condensed set of major release highlights. The following list summarizes improvements in this release: hardware - 10 GigE drivers with GRO support, FCoE support on standard NICs, SR I/OV support; system - kernel tracepoints for systemtap use; per process I/O accounting, FIEMAP support; virtualization - hypervisor scalability to 192 CPUs, additional hypervisor - Kernel Based Virtual Machine (KVM)." Read the release announcement and release notes for further information. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 is available either via the usual update mechanism or as a set of ISO images for new installation (Red Hat Networks subscribers only). An unsupported 30-day evaluation edition can be requested here.

Marc Poirette has announced the availability of the second beta release of PureOS 2.0, a desktop distribution and live CD featuring the KDE desktop environment and based on Debian's testing branch: "PureOS 2.0 beta 2 is available; it is built with the Linux-Live scripts 6.2.9. It's a light evolution of the beta 1 release while waiting for the arrival of KDE 4.3.0 in Debian testing. Modifications: KDE 4.2.4; OpenOffice.org 3.1.0 - Calc, Draw, Impress, Writer (Base has been removed); the Kommander installer replaces the Zenity installer; wicd replaces KNetworkManager; additions - sux, Midnight Commander, Krusader; QtCurve theme and identical fonts for KDE and the GTK+ applications." See the release announcement for additional details. Download links in the announcement (BitTorrent only).

Robert Lange has announced the release of VectorLinux 6.0 "Light Live" edition: "The VectorLinux team is happy to announce VectorLinux 6.0 'Light Live'. This edition is intended as a preview of the traditional installable release. It closely mirrors the original VectorLinux 'Light', but some packages have been added or upgraded, including the 2.6.27.29 kernel. This is a great way to test VectorLinux before committing to a hard drive install. For us who already use it, our favorite operating system is now portable. Another practical use is as a live toolbox for troubleshooting and/or repair. There is a boot option for using it as a rescue disc for a previously installed system. Re-mastering VectorLinux 'Live' has been made easy for those who want their very own, personalized edition." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: VL6.0-Light-LIVE-Final.iso (644MB, MD5).

Patrick Volkerding has announced the release of Slackware Linux 13.0, a major update of the world's oldest surviving Linux distribution: "After one of the most intensive periods of development in Slackware's history, the long-awaited stable release of Slackware 13.0 is ready. This release brings with it many major changes since Slackware 12.2, including a completely reworked collection of X packages (a configuration file for X is no longer needed in most cases), major upgrades to the desktop environments (KDE 4.2.4 and Xfce 4.6.1), a new .txz package format with much better compression, and other upgrades all around -- to the development system, network services, libraries, and major applications like Firefox and Thunderbird. We think you'll agree that this version of Slackware was worth the wait. Also, this is the first release of Slackware with native support for the 64-bit x86_64 architecture!" See the release announcement and release notes for more information. Download (torrents) the installation DVD images from here: slackware-13.0-install-dvd.iso (3,739MB, MD5, torrent), slackware64-13.0-install-dvd.iso (3,762MB, MD5, torrent).

Zafer Aydogan has announced the release of Jibbed 5.0.1, a NetBSD-based live CD with automatic hardware detection and Xfce desktop: "It's NetBSD time. The long awaited new version of the live CD has finally arrived. It is freshly built from the NetBSD 5.0.1 sources which includes many bug fixes and contains the latest packages from pkgsrc including Filezilla. As always, it contains X.Org from base and the Xfce desktop. Jibbed is a bootable live CD based on the NetBSD operating system that works directly from a CD without need for a hard drive. Automatic hardware detection provides support for a wide variety of graphics cards, sound cards, network interfaces, and USB devices. This live CD showcases a complete NetBSD environment, including compiler sets, and provides features like tmpfs to simulate read-write access on read-only media." More information can be found in the release announcement. Download (MD5): jibbed-5.0.1-i386-LiveCD.iso (465MB), jibbed-5.0.1-amd64-LiveCD.iso (506MB).

Urs Beyerle has released a set of live CD/DVD images containing Scientific Linux 4.8, a distribution built from source packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, but enhanced with additional software: "Scientific Linux 4.8 Live CD/DVD has been released for the i386 and x86_64 architecture. The Scientific Linux live CD/DVD is a bootable CD/DVD that runs Linux directly from CD/DVD without installing. It is based on Scientific Linux 4.8. Features: can be installed to local hard disk; runs from USB key; changes can be stored persistently on an external device; can be mounted over NFS (diskless client). Software: Linux kernel 2.6.9; OpenAFS client 1.4.7, X.Org 6.8.2, KDE 3.3.1, IceWM 1.2.37, GNOME 2.8.0 (only on DVD), GIMP 2.0.5, Unionfs and Squashfs for read/write live system...." More information can be found in the release announcement. Download: livecd_SL48_kde.iso (686MB, MD5), livedvd_SL48.iso (2,195MB, MD5), livecd64_SL48_kde.iso (671MB, MD5), livedvd64_SL48.iso (2,369MB, MD5).

Carlos La Borde has released iMagic OS 2009.9, a commercial desktop Linux distribution based on Ubuntu: "The new iMagic OS has arrived. Now featuring the newest software, upgraded plugins, a new way to install Windows software, and the new magicOnline, iMagic OS 2009.9 is all about making your life cleaner and faster. Combined with parental controls, transparent updates, automatic data backup, MP3 decoding, and with help always just a click away, iMagic OS is ready to go. The new magicOnline is now web-based, and has a brand new interface, to make installing software easier than ever. With iMagic OS comes PlayOnLinux, a relatively new way to install Windows software on Linux, in an easy and direct software installation tool that supports more Windows applications and games." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. iMagic OS 2009.9 is available for purchase (US$19.99) and immediate download from the distribution's announcement page.

Warren Woodford has announced the release of SimplyMEPIS 8.0.10, an updated build of the beginner-friendly distribution and live CD based on Debian GNU/Linux: "MEPIS LLC has released SimplyMEPIS 8.0.10, an update to the community edition of MEPIS 8.0. SimplyMEPIS 8.0 uses a Debian 5.0 'Lenny' stable foundation enhanced with a long-term support kernel, key package upgrades, and the MEPIS Assistant applications to create an up-to-date, ready-to-use desktop computer system. The updated components on the SimplyMEPIS ISOs include recent updates from the Debian 'Lenny' pool and also the security-patched Linux kernel 2.6.27.30, rt2860 driver 2.1.2.0, Firefox 3.5.2, Google Gadgets 0.11.0, ALSA 1.0.20, BIND 9.6.1-P1, and KNetworkManager 0.7. In addition, some minor tweaks have been applied to the MEPIS installer and the MEPIS utilities." Here is the complete release announcement. Download: SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.0.10-rel_32.iso (694MB, MD5), SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.0.10-rel_64.iso (658MB, MD5).

MatÃ­as Fonzo has announced the availability of the first release candidate of Dragora GNU/Linux 1.1, an independent, i686-optimised distribution built exclusively from free software: "Dragora GNU/Linux 1.1 RC1, ready for use and testing. Still missing a few things to do: how to document the tools, update KDE (4.3 final) and make sure that everything is ready." According to the changelog, the most important changes in this release are updates of all programs included in Busybox, addition of Parted, switch to ext4 as the default file system, update of the services and daemons menu, inclusion of "wmconfig", removal of the package integrity check, and various minor enhancements. See the release announcement and changelog (in Spanish) for further details. Download the installation CD image from here: dragora-1.1-RC1.iso (537MB, MD5).

Daisuke Suzuki has announced the release of Vine Linux 5.0, a Japanese community distribution for desktops and servers: "This is Vine Linux version 5 release. Since this is not a commercial edition, non-free applications and fonts are not included on the CD/DVD. Instead of proprietary ATOX Japanese input and Ricoh/Dynacomware fonts, this FTP edition contains Anthy and free TrueType fonts. Vine Linux 5 has the following new features: lightweight and high-speed; restructured software collection; support for x86_64 architecture; look and feel improvements; new user-friendly tools; new USB/DVD installable images." Vine Linux 5.0 is based on Linux kernel 2.6.27 with glibc 2.8 and GCC 4.1.2, the default desktop is GNOME 2.26 using X.Org Server 1.6.3. Besides Japanese, the distribution offers full support for American and British English. Read the release announcement (in Japanese) and release notes (in English) for more information. Download: Vine50-i386-DVD.iso (1,015MB, SHA1), Vine50-x86_64-DVD.iso (1,006MB, SHA1).

Ken Smith has announced the availability of the third beta release of FreeBSD 8.0: "The third of the BETA builds for the FreeBSD 8.0 release cycle is now available. All major work related to new features in 8.0 has been completed and we are shifting into 'bug-fix only' mode for the balance of the release cycle. Debugging features (e.g. WITNESS) are still enabled, but will be removed from stable/8 between now and RC1 so performance is still impacted a bit by that. Also note that, as mentioned previously on the mailing lists, we did do a shared library version bump after BETA2 was announced so if you update a system that was last rebuilt earlier than that it would be a good idea to rebuild all user-level applications including the ports/packages." Read the full release announcement for additional details. Download: 8.0-BETA3-i386-dvd1.iso.gz (1,773MB, SHA256), 8.0-BETA3-amd64-dvd1.iso.gz (1,837MB, SHA256).

Anne Nicolas has announced the availability of the beta release of Mandriva 2010: "Mandriva Linux 2010 Beta is now available on public mirrors. This beta version is available as the 'Free' edition, 32-bit and 64-bit DVDs and 'One' edition, KDE or GNOME (will be uploaded next week). It comes with many major updates and new exciting stuff: Plymouth is now managing boot splash - it allows many more possibilities for design and effects and it also comes with KMS activation, which reduces screen flickering and permits smooth transitions between boot phase and X startup; the Netprofile tool has been completely rewritten - move your desktop without even thinking about managing your network profiles; Tomoyo GUI is the first GUI for Tomoyo; KDE 4.3, GNOME 2.27.5, Linux kernel 2.6.31-rc6." Read the release announcement and release notes for a more detailed list of new features. Download: mandriva-free-beta1-i586.iso (3,682MB, MD5), mandriva-linux-free-beta1-cooker-x86_64.iso (3,651MB, MD5).

Johnny Hughes has announced the release of CentOS 4.8. This is a new version of the project's older, legacy branch built by the recompiling the source package for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.8: "The CentOS development team is pleased to announce the release of CentOS 4.8 for i386 and x86_64 architectures. New in this release: there is a technology preview of OpenOffice.org 2.0 included in the updates directory. Known issues: there is a requirement to swap in CD-1 during the install phase of CD-4 during some installs when the comps RPM is required to be installed; an upstream bug with the 3c59x Ethernet driver has been encountered during testing; there are issues with the i586 support on the AMD K6II processor...." See the release announcement and release notes for more details. Existing installations can be updated to the latest version via the usual update mechanism, but an installation CD and DVD images are also provide for download (mirror list: CentOS-4.8-i386-binDVD.iso (2,342MB, MD5, torrent), CentOS-4.8-x86_64-binDVD.iso (2,605MB, MD5, torrent).

Tilman Sauerbeck has announced the availability of the first release candidate for CRUX 2.6, a lightweight, i686-optimised Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users: "The first release candidate of the upcoming CRUX 2.6 release is available now. CRUX 2.6 includes glibc 2.10.1, GCC 4.4.1, Binutils 2.19.1, Linux kernel 2.6.30.x and X.Org 7.4. Important changes: XZ/LZMA support has been added to libarchive, it's possible to use .xz and .lzma source-archives in our ports now; libusb has been updated to version 1.0, to keep compatibility with version 0.1 a new port libusb-compat has been added to core; using the file modprobe.conf to configure modprobe is deprecated, use *.conf files in /etc/modprobe.d/ instead; LVM is now available during install." Read the release announcement and release notes for further information. Download the installation CD image from here: crux-2.6-rc1.iso (264MB, MD5).

After three years without a release, Michael Zanetta has announced the availability of Pentoo 2009.0 Beta, a Gentoo-based Linux live CD with a selection of applications and tools designed to perform penetration testing: "I know we've been so long to throw this out, but we finally managed to get something working and here it is, twice, as we're releasing both a 32-bit and 64-bit edition. It features the following: changes saving; enhanced cracking software - NTLM/MD4/MD5 CUDA brute forcer, WPA PSK rainbow tables generation accelerated through CUDA, STREAM or PADLOCK, John The Ripper with MPI support; Linux kernel 2.6.29 and WiFi 2.6.31_rc4 with all the patches from Zero; tons of new tools; Enlightenment DR17 built from SVN." The release announcement can be found on the project's home page, while a brief changelog is available on the download page. Get the live CD images from here: pentoo-i686-2009.0_beta.iso (658MB, MD5), pentoo-x86_64-2009.0_beta.iso (700MB, MD5).

Miklós Vajna has announced the availability of the second release candidate for Frugalware Linux 1.1 (code name "Getorin"), a general-purpose distribution for intermediate Linux users: "The Frugalware developer team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Frugalware Linux 1.1rc2, the second candidate of the upcoming 1.1 stable release. A short and incomplete list of changes since 1.1rc1: updated the artwork; packaged Android SDK for those who want network access from Frugalware through their Android phones; package updates: PHP 5.3, Octave 3.2, more than 250 package updates, more than 40 new packages." Here is the brief release announcement. Interested testers can download the installation DVD image from here: frugalware-1.1rc2-i686-dvd1.iso (4,281MB, SHA1, torrent).

Linux From Scratch (LFS) 6.5 has been released. Linux From Scratch isn't a distribution in the traditional sense of the word, but rather a book containing a set of instructions for building a base Linux system from source code. From the release announcement: "The Linux From Scratch community is pleased to announce the release of LFS version 6.5. This release includes numerous changes from LFS 6.4 (including updates to Linux kernel 2.6.30.2, GCC 4.4.1, and glibc 2.10.1) and security fixes. It also includes editorial work on the explanatory material throughout the book, improving both the clarity and accuracy of the text." Besides the above-mentioned updates, the new version of Linux From Scratch also includes Bash 4.0, module-init-tools 3.10, udev 145 and many of the very latest GNU packages. The complete 314-page book is available either as an online resource or as a downloadable file in HTML (175kB), XML (522kB) and PDF (1,453kB) formats. Happy compiling!

The first beta build of Epidemic GNU/Linux 3.1, a Brazilian desktop distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux, is now available for testing. While the development of this new version has largely concentrated on fixing bugs and adding polish, it also brings a handful of new features, including: ESU, a new graphical application that gives the system administrator a choice in user authentication for tasks that require superuser privileges; introduction of GRUB 2 as the default bootloader and ext4 as the default file system; new kernel (version 2.6.29) with the bootsplash patch and support for proprietary graphics drivers and popular wireless cards; update to KDE 4.3 with Compiz Fusion and 3D desktop effects. Read the release announcement (in Portuguese) for further information. Download: epidemic-3.1-b1-1-i686.iso (1,504MB, MD5).

"Transforma tu vida!" proclaims the title of the release announcement for Tuquito 3, an Ubuntu-based, beginner-friendly distribution from Argentina with GNOME as the main desktop. Previously based on Debian and KDE, Tuquito has now transformed itself into a distribution with plethora of new usability features, social networking add-ons, Google applications, support for proprietary graphics drivers, and other conveniences. Some of the main features include: automatic detection of hard disk partitions with one-click activation; support for all available printers and scanners; support for web cams, inclusive of the Intel and Genius models; automatic detection of digital cameras and USB pen drives; 100% compatible with MS Office file formats; full support for Windows file systems (FAT and NTFS); new system and application installer; Garfio, a one-click back-up solution.... See the full release announcement (in Spanish) for a detailed list of features and a handful of screenshots. Download (MD5): tuquito3-final.iso (699MB).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the fourth alpha release of Ubuntu 9.10, now including the first CD images for Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud: "Welcome to Karmic Koala Alpha 4, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.10. New features: GNOME 2.27.4 development release; Kubuntu includes its first Netbook release, Social from the Start, and the latest KDE packages; the first Karmic alpha images for the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) and Amazon's EC2; Ubuntu One file sharing service provides tightly integrated file synchronization with other computers and the Ubuntu One network storage service; includes the 2.6.31-5.24 kernel based on 2.6.31-rc5, ships with Kernel Mode Setting enabled for Intel graphics...." Read the release announcement and release notes to learn more. Download (MD5): karmic-desktop-i386.iso (696MB, torrent), karmic-desktop-amd64.iso (698MB, torrent). Also available are alpha 4 CD images for Kubuntu (download, release notes), Xubuntu (download), Ubuntu Studio (download), Mythbuntu (download).

Patrick Verner has released Parted Magic 4.4, a live CD designed primarily as a hard disk partitioning and data rescue tool: "This new version of Parted Magic has some major updates. Users can now get online with dial-up networking through our 'Start Network' program. Parted Magic is not in the desktop media business, but ALSA sound drivers and ALSA core programs were added if you would like to use a media player. We highly suggest Slackware 12.x packages. Unionfs is now being used for the big directories and Parted Magic's RAM usage, with the default boot option, has been halved - it only takes 256 MB of RAM to run completely from system memory and free up that CD-ROM drive or USB stick. At boot time the SSH daemon is started and public keys are generated, so that's one less thing for people using SSH to deal with. Last but not least, you will notice that Super Grub Disk is now an option in the boot menu." Visit the project's home page to read the full release announcement. Download (MD5): pmagic-4.4.iso.zip (95.6MB).

Manuel Kasper has released the seventeenth beta build of m0n0wall 1.3, a complete software firewall based on FreeBSD: "m0n0wall 1.3 beta is based on FreeBSD 6.x and has better hardware support than the FreeBSD 4.x based versions (up to version 1.23x), as well as a few new features. Changes: converted from BRIDGE to if_bridge, removed multi-interface bridge check and checkbox under Advanced for filtering bridge since member interfaces will now always be filtered; fixed a problem with ipnat refusing to create new RDR translation entries in the NAT table if a MAP entry exists for the same port; fixed problems when using advanced outbound NAT rules with destination matching; fixed DHCP lease page to only show the last lease for a given IP address; fixed for IPv6 pages in user/group manager...." Read the rest of the release notes for a full list of fixes and improvements. Download (MD5): cdrom-1.3b17.iso (17.4MB).

The fourth beta release of Astaro Security Gateway 7.5, a Linux-based server operating system featuring an intuitive web-based configuration interface, is now available for testing: "For those who are participating in our 7.500 Beta, we have just released the fourth iteration of the release, which is numbered 7.480. Based on our own internal testing and a lot of great reports in the UBB beta forum for 7.500, we've fixed bugs, tweaked a few features, and applied polish to all areas. If you would like some direction in what to keep testing, we are specifically interested in getting feedback from the following areas: all types of authentication services, especially using the new multiple authentication servers ability; all types of interface types (DHCP, PPPoE, PPPoA, VLAN); IPsec VPN Site-to-Site and Roadwarrior connections...." Read the remainder of the release announcement for more details. Download the installation CD image from here: asg-7.480-090811-2.iso (512MB, MD5).

Adonay Sanz Alsina has announced the release of kademar Linux 4.9, a live DVD with KDE 3 based on Debian GNU/Linux 5.0, offering support for Catalan, Spanish and English languages. Some of the new features in this release include: enhancements to CADI, the distribution's system configuration tool, which now comes with a GRUB configuration module and various new web browser configuration options; minor bug fixes and enhancements in "kademarcenter", a hardware setup utility; major update to the system installer which now includes an option to choose a 100% "libre" system; a new graphical start-up with fbsplash; updated Linux kernel 2.6.29. Read the release announcement (in Spanish) for a more complete list of changes and enhancements. Download: kademar_V4.9_Leo-DVD.iso (1,662MB, MD5).

FranÃ§ois Dupoux has announced the release of SystemRescueCd 1.2.3, a Gentoo-based Linux system rescue disk available as a bootable CD-ROM or USB stick for administrating or repairing a system and data after a crash. What's new in this release? "Updated the alternative kernels to Linux kernel 2.6.27.29; updated e2fsprogs to version 1.41.8 (ext2, ext3, ext4 file system tools); updated dump to 0.4b42 (better support for ext4); updated NTFS-3G to version 2009.4.4 AR16 (NTFS-3G advanced release); added missing firmware (package linux-firmware); initial support Partclone 0.1.1; updated GParted to version 0.4.6; updated Parted to version 1.9.0." See the complete changelog for more details. Download the bootable live CD from here: systemrescuecd-x86-1.2.3.iso (236MB, MD5).

Ryan Finnie has released Finnix 93.0, a small, self-contained, bootable Linux CD distribution for system administrators, based on Debian's testing branch: "Finnix 93.0 released. It is a maintenance release, but due to the length of time between Finnix 92.1 and 93.0, the time between Debian upstream updates warranted a major version number bump. New features include Linux kernel 2.6.30, and updated upstream software. Vitals: Linux 2.6.30 (based on Debian 2.6.30-5), Debian testing (2009-08-08). Changes: dist-upgrade; upgraded Memtest86+ to 2.11; re-ordered main menu (x86); several fixes related to Debian and Linux kernel upgrades; removed: EVMS (unmaintained upstream, obsolete, low penetration), unionfs-tools (incompatible with current Unionfs), cramfsprogs (not used by Finnix, low need outside Finnix), ftp (use lftp instead)." Please see the release announcement and release notes for further information. Download (MD5): finnix-93.0.iso (121MB), finnix-ppc-93.0.iso (132MB).

Flavio Pereira de Oliveira has announced the availability of the first release candidate for GoblinX 3.0 "G:Standard" edition, a Slackware-based live CD featuring KDE 4: "The GoblinX project is proud to announce the second development release of the next G:Standard. Changelog: upgraded to KDE 4 (4.2.4); upgraded several packages and libraries including X.Org; fixed some errors and bugs; added MPlayer, GnomeBaker, GnomeBlutooth, wicd; added support for TXZ packages, the new Slackware package format; made a few changes to the KDE desktop in order to improve usability; removed VLC because it is impossible to build the browser plugin using the current glibc; added some GTK+ applications to fill missing Qt applications; added Opera 10 beta with full Slik/Webmount support; changed default boot to use level 4 (KDM)." Read the rest of the release announcement for additional details. Download: g.Standard-2.9.90.iso (696MB, MD5).

Roberto J. Dohnert has announced the release of PC/OS 2009.3, a desktop Linux distribution based on Xubuntu: "PC/OS 2009.3 has been released to the general public. This release fixes many of the hardware issues that users had with PC/OS 2009v2 series. With this release we went ahead and installed all updates so all security updates since PC/OS maintenance pack 3 have been applied. The changes to PC/OS 2009.3 application wise are common across all releases except that Xfce 4.6 was not included in WebStation due to some issues that are being explored right now on some models of netbooks. OpenOffice.org 3.1, Pidgin 2.5.8, Firefox 3.0.12, Mozilla Thunderbird and many more application updates have been applied." Read the complete release announcement for more information. Download: pc-os-ow20093.iso (1,613MB, MD5).

SAM Linux 2009, a PCLinuxOS-based distribution and live CD featuring the Xfce desktop, has been released: "The Sam Linux team announces the release of SAM Linux 2009. The distribution is based on PCLinuxOS 2009.1 but it will be the last release based on PCLinuxOS. The most important changes are the upgrade to kernel version 2.6.26.8, Xfce 4.6.1, support of a variety of WLAN hardware and support of the MSI Wind netbook architecture. Minor changes include the upgrade of all packages as of 18 July 2009 and the use of Opera as email client instead of Thunderbird. SAM Linux 2009 is made fully compatible with the PCLinuxOS repositories. In the process of changing from PCLinuxOS to a distribution still unannounced we will stop hosting our own PCLinuxOS repository but we will keep up the support for SAM Linux 2009 as long as it is in use by our community." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: SAM2009.iso (679MB, MD5).

Dieter Plaetinck has announced the release of a new set of installation CD images for Arch Linux, version 2009.08: "These images are built from a current snapshot of core, which includes Linux kernel 2.6.30.4, udev 141 and Pacman 3.3.0. Changes compared to 2009.02: more up-to-date software; usage of new AIF installer, which brings better disk editor with support for dm_crypt and LVM setups, support for automated installations using configuration files, a framework to build your own installation procedures, better date/time setting with NTP support, re-factored GRUB installation routines and usability improvements; Aufs instead of Unionfs; enhanced boot device detection on image start; bug fixes (XFS freeze, mirror setting, clock corrections, network settings)." See the release announcement and release notes for more details. Download (MD5): archlinux-2009.08-core-i686.iso (344MB, torrent), archlinux-2009.08-core-x86_64.iso (364MB, torrent).

Rubén RodrÃ­guez Pérez has announced the release of Trisquel GNU/Linux 2.2, a 100% libre, Ubuntu-based distribution for home, office and school deployments: "Trisquel GNU/Linux 2.2 'Robur' is ready for download. This is the third and last maintenance update for the 2.x LTS branch, which will be supported until 2013. The six ISO images released today - 32-bit and 64-bit for all three editions - include more than 200 package updates, a new and cleaner GTK+ theme, and four new pre-installed languages - the list now includes English, Basque, Catalan, Chinese (simplified), French, Galician, Hindi, Portuguese and Spanish. This language selection matches the one in Trisquel 3.0, which is almost ready for release." See the full release announcement for additional information. Download (MD5) the "Home" edition live CD images from here: trisquel_2.2_i686.iso (688MB), trisquel_2.2_amd64.iso (698MB).

Estrella Roja 2.5, a Debian-based distribution and live CD made in Argentina, has been released. This version is still based on the stable Debian GNU/Linux 5.0, but includes some stability improvements and a number of backported application updates, such as Pidgin 2.5.8 (with many plugins), Firefox 3.5.1 and Nmap 5.00. Some packages were replaced by their functional, but lighter equivalents, e.g. Network Manager has been replaced by wicd. Also includes some bug fixes to udev, new scripts, Truecrypt 6.2a and the Firestarter firewall. The KDE 3.5 theme has also been updated to a more modern variant, while new links to the distribution's web site have been added. Please read the brief release announcement (in Spanish) for further information. Download (MD5) the live CD image from here: estrellaroja2.5.iso (702MB).

Patrick Volkerding has announced that Slackware "current", the distribution's development branch, has reached release candidate 2 status: "Hi folks! We're going to call this set of updates RC2. There are still README files to be handled (that's the nature of documentation, I guess), as well as some other things remaining on the TODO list, but X seems pretty stable now, and it seems like a release soon would be in order so that we can march right back into development territory with -current again soon. Enjoy, and let us know about any problems you run into!" Find more information in the changelog. Slackware Linux 13.0 RC2 comes with Linux kernel 2.6.29.6, GCC 4.3.3, X.Org Server 1.6.3 and KDE 4.2.4. As always, there are no official ISO images to download, but those interested in helping with last-minute testing can get these unofficial installation DVDs and upgrade to RC2 with slackpkg: slackware-current-04_Aug_2009-DVD.iso (1,743MB, MD5), slackware64-current-04_Aug_2009-DVD.iso (1,678MB, MD5).

Silvan Calarco has announced the release of openmamba GNU/Linux 1.1, a maintenance update of the general-purpose distribution offering out-of-the-box support for popular graphics drivers and media codecs, among other features: "The new 1.1 release of openmamba GNU/Linux is available for download. It is a maintenance release with support for recent hardware platforms and fixes to improve system usability and stability. This release includes: all software updates made available after openmamba 1.0 release; 2.6.28.10 kernel with wireless and audio drivers backport with support for the most recent devices; wicd network manager for easier access to wireless networks; X.Org Server 1.4 with updated video drivers...." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details. Download the installable live CD or the installation DVD from here: openmamba-livecd-en-1.1.i586.iso (667MB, MD5), openmamba-installdvd-en-1.1.i586.iso (2,765MB, MD5).

Miklós Vajna has announced the availability of the first release candidate for Frugalware Linux 1.1 (code name "Getorin"), a general-purpose distribution for desktops and servers using Arch's Pacman as the package manager: "The Frugalware developer team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Frugalware 1.1rc1, the first release of the upcoming 1.1 stable release. A short and incomplete list of changes since 1.1pre2: Etoile is now part of the repository; major update on the graphical installer (fwife); package updates - Linux kernel 2.6.30.3, GnuTLS 2.8, more than 400 package updates, more than 100 new packages." Here is the brief release announcement, with further details available in the official changelog. Download: frugalware-1.1rc1-i686-dvd1.iso (4,271MB, SHA1, torrent).

Soren Jacobsen has announced the release of NetBSD 5.0.1: "The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce that version 5.0.1 of the NetBSD operating system is now available. NetBSD 5.0.1 is the first security/critical update of the NetBSD 5.0 release branch. It represents a selected subset of fixes deemed critical in nature for security or stability reasons. Please note that all fixes in security/critical updates (i.e., NetBSD 5.0.1, 5.0.2, etc.) are cumulative, so the latest update contains all such fixes since the corresponding minor release. These fixes will also appear in future minor releases (i.e., NetBSD 5.1, 5.2, etc.), together with other less-critical fixes and feature enhancements." See the detailed release notes for a complete list of all changes, security fixes and known issues. Installation CD images for 42 processor architectures are available for download from the project's FTP mirrors; quick links to the i386 and amd64 CD images (SHA512): i386cd-5.0.1.iso (229MB, torrent), amd64cd-5.0.1.iso (242MB, torrent).

Vanessa Wall has announced the availability of the second alpha release of Mandriva Linux 2010: "Mandriva Linux 2010 Alpha 2 is now available on public mirrors. This alpha is available only through 'Free' editions, 32-bit and 64-bit DVDs. Despite our planning modification (if you haven't heard it already, Mandriva Linux 2010 will be released on November 3rd, 2009), we were able to provide this alpha 2 release sooner than expected. Among many things, the following components have been updated in alpha 2: KDE 4.3 RC 3; GNOME 2.27.5, including new client-side window GTK+ feature (help to prevent flickering); Linux kernel 2.6.31-rc4, X.Org Server 1.6.3 with latest driver for Intel graphic chipset (should improve performance and stability)." Read the release announcement and release notes to find out more about Mandriva's latest development release. Download: mandriva-linux-free-alpha2-cooker-i586.iso (3,104MB, MD5), mandriva-linux-free-alpha2-cooker-x86_64.iso (3,393MB, MD5).

Johnny Lee has announced the availability of a new development release of Macpup Opera, version 061, a Puppy-based distribution featuring the latest Enlightenment 17 desktop: "Macpup Opera 061 is based on Ttuuxxx's 4.2v2 'Deeper thought' (2.6.25.16), a 'no Bling' version of Puppy Linux 4.2 with all of the current updates. It has D-Bus 1.2.4 compiled and installed from source and the Enlightenment 17 desktop version 0.16.999.061 compiled and installed from source with the updated version of librsvg 2.26.0. Opera 061 includes lots of the e17 extra modules like Flame, Rain, Snow and Penguins, and lots of extra shelf modules like Net, Tclock, Moon. Some of the shelf modules like CPU and Weather are unstable and may crash. Also included is the Opera 9.64 browser. GIMP 2.4.6 Xvidcap and Avidemux are included as .pets." Visit the project's home page to read the rest of the release announcement. Download: Macpup_Opera61.iso (173MB, MD5).

Matthew Burgess has announced the availability of the second release candidate for Linux From Scratch (LFS) 6.5, a book providing instructions for building a minimalist Linux-based operating system from scratch: "The Linux From Scratch community is pleased to announce the release of LFS version 6.5 release candidate 2. This release includes numerous changes from LFS 6.4 (including updates to Linux kernel 2.6.30.2, GCC 4.4.1 and glibc-2.10.1) and security fixes. It also includes editorial work on the explanatory material throughout the book, improving both the clarity and accuracy of the text. It is our intention to release LFS 6.5 final within one week. Please direct any comments about this release to the LFS development team at lfs-dev at linuxfromscratch.org." Read the release announcement for further information. The book is available for online viewing or as a download in HTML, XML and PDF formats.

SLAMPP is a Zenwalk-based distribution and live DVD designed for use as an instant home server. After over three years of inactivity, the project released version 2.0 of the distribution yesterday: "Today I am glad to let you know that SLAMPP 2.0 is available for public download. There are a lot of enhancements in this new release, some of them are the following: Linux live kernel 2.6.28.7, provides pre-configured servers and related utilities to ease your work in setting up an instant home server; provides full web and Linux development environment: LAMPP and Ruby on Rails, IDEs, frameworks, compilers, interpreters, utilities; equips with fancy bootsplash and progress bar, nice desktop wallpaper, complete OpenOffice.org suite, multimedia, graphics, audio and video applications; maintains the Slax modularity; can be installed on hard disk or USB storage device; supports persistent partitions on USB devices...." Here is the full release announcement. Download (MD5): slampp-2.0-zw-dvd.iso (1,849MB).

Takaaki Tabuchi has announced the release of Momonga Linux 6, a Japanese general-purpose distribution loosely modelled on Fedora. Some of the new features in this release include: Linux kernel 2.6.29 with support for the ext4 file system, KVM virtualisation and improved hardware support; improved boot times due to init script optimisations and adoption of Fedora's Plymouth boot system; introduction of Bash 4.0; GCC 4.3 as the default compiler; RPM package manager version 4.7; adoption of Meguri as the default Japanese font; GNOME 2.26.3, KDE 4.3 RC2 with a compatibility layer for KDE 3 applications; 3D desktop effects with Compiz Fusion 0.8.2; new wide-screen wallpapers; miscellaneous improvements concerning Japanese character input.... Please read the release announcement and release notes (both links in Japanese) for further information. Download: Momonga-6-i686-DVD.iso (4,254MB, MD5), Momonga-6-x86_64-DVD.iso (4,265MB, MD5).

Kelly Schwartz (aka "wolfden") has announced the release of Sabayon Linux 4.2 "CoreCD" edition: "Sabayon Linux CoreCD is a new type of release for Sabayon. The CoreCD is designed with a minimalist feature set to provide a foundation for building a customized installation tailored to the user's specific needs. The CoreCD is a text-based release. There is no X Server, GNOME, or KDE provided. The Feature list is intentionally short: bootable image suitable for a CD or USB thumb drive; text-based installer; basic default networking; Entropy and Portage ready. The CoreCD release is targeted at advanced users who want to take full control of the features and packages installed on their systems." Read the release announcement and take the visual tour for further details. Download: Sabayon_Linux_CoreCD_4.2_x86.iso (373MB, MD5), Sabayon_Linux_CoreCD_4.2_amd64.iso (414MB, MD5).

Jean-Philippe Guillemin has announced that the first beta release of Zenwalk Linux 6.2, a Slackware-based desktop distribution, is now ready for testing: "Zenwalk Linux 6.2 beta has been released. Zenwalk Linux 6.2 is an up-to-date and improved version of Zenwalk 6.0, as we think that this series has reached the maturity level in terms of features. Here is a summary of the important changes: Linux kernel 2.6.30.2; ext4 as the main file system; the new Xfce 4.6.1; OpenOffice.org 3.1.0 (fast, optimized version); GRUB 2 bootloader with automatic configuration (will detect all your partitions and other operating systems); new Netpkg featuring a refined interface, rollback support and instant install with dependency control; faster boot (tuned init scripts); bus auto-detection in the installer (will choose appropriate kernel depending on the architecture, SATA, PATA, SCSI)." Read the full release announcement for more information. Download: zenwalk-6.2BETA.iso (483MB, MD5).

Warren Woodford has announced the release of antiX 8.2, a lightweight variant of SimplyMEPIS designed for older computers: "The antiX team is proud to announce that an updated antiX MEPIS 8.2 final is available at MEPIS mirrors. This release defaults to a fully customised IceWM desktop (Fluxbox is also installed) using a SimplyMEPIS 2.6.27 kernel and tweaked MEPIS Assistants for better compatibility in antiX. Ten languages are fully supported out of the box, with the language chosen at live CD boot carrying over to install. Boot time should be faster, particularly if the 'Faster' option is chosen at live CD boot menu and RAM usage low. antiX-Control Centre has been further improved, new scripts for screenshots, phonebook, mouse configuration have been added." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details and system requirements. Download: antiX-M8.2.iso (466MB, MD5).

Steven Shiau has announced the availability of a new stable release of Clonezilla Live, a Debian-based live CD containing an easy-to-use partition and disk-cloning software called Clonezilla: "Clonezilla Live 1.2.2-26 (stable) has been released. This release adds a newer kernel 2.6.30 from backports at undebian.org, a new upstream syslinux 3.82, a newer Partclone 0.1.1, and genisoimage instead of mkisofs. A workaround to avoid using Partclone to save FAT file systems has been added. The smartmontools package has been added. The makeboot.sh script has been improved to allow USB devices /dev/ub[a-z]. A '--rescue' option has been added in ocs-onthefly for Partclone. Some bugs were fixed." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: clonezilla-live-1.2.2-26.iso (103MB, MD5).

Darin VanCoevering has announced the availability of SuperGamer Supreme, a VectorLinux-based distribution and live DVD with a large selection of games: "The world's first dual-layer live DVD. SuperGamer is a games-oriented Linux desktop operating system. It has all the normal Linux desktop applications, such as the Firefox browser, OpenOffice.org, etc., but also has a great many native-to-Linux games added, as well as some demos of proprietary games. This SuperGamer version will work on both 32-bit and 64-bit PCs and fills a full dual-layer DVD. It includes support for Ethernet, wireless and dial-up Internet connections. It can run in 'live' mode directly from the DVD and can be optionally installed to hard drive. A few key includes are 2.6.27.24 kernel, Azureus, GParted, Limewire, GIMP, K9copy, KOffice, OpenOffice.org 3, Hardinfo (system profiler and benchmark tool) along with all the plugins for Firefox. Games: Quake Wars, Doom 3, Prey, Unreal Tournament, Quake 4...." Here is the full release announcement. Download via BitTorrent: SuperGamer.iso (7,950MB).

Connie Sieh and Troy Dawson have announced the release of Scientific Linux 4.8, a distribution compiled from source packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.8, but enhanced with scientific software, a cluster suite, additional file systems and other packages: "Scientific Linux 4.8 has been released. It doesn't have any exciting new features, it is just a nice, stable release. Scientific Linux release 4.8 is based on the rebuilding of RPMs out of SRPMs from Enterprise 4, including Update 8. It also has all errata and bug fixes up until July 20, 2009." Some of the extra software found in Scientific Linux 4.8 include: "915resolution, Alpine, CFITSIO, cluster suite and GFS, FUSE, Unionfs, OpenAFS, Intel wireless firmware and NDISwrapper, JAVA...." See the release announcement and release notes for further details. Download: SL.48.072009.i386.DVD.iso (3,618MB, MD5), SL.48.072009.x86_64.DVD.iso (3,945MB, MD5).

CDlinux is a compact live CD from China suitable for use as a mobile system or a rescue tool. Half a month after our CDlinux 0.9.2 review, the developer announced a new release, CDlinux 0.9.3: "This version added two missing blocks to CDlinux: devel and dri. The new devel module is an attempt to help users compile additional drivers and applications for CDlinux. It now supports compiling the official Linux kernel as well as some third-party kernel modules. And Mesa3D was added to the Community edition for those who may want to run 3D applications or games. This version also fixed several bugs found in previous versions: a possible race between amount and hal, a bug that prevents udev's persistent rules from working properly, and a bug that may make CDlinux fail to save persistent data. All major packages were upgrade to their latest versions." Visit the distribution's news page to read the release announcement. Download: CDlinux_CE-0.9.3.iso (231MB, MD5), CDlinux-0.9.3.iso.gz (69.6MB, MD5).

Linux From Scratch (LFS) is a free book that provides instructions for compiling a basic Linux operating system from scratch, offered primarily as an educational tool for those who wish to learn more about Linux internals. The Linux From Scratch community is pleased to announce the release of LFS Version 6.5 Release Candidate 1: "The Linux From Scratch community is pleased to announce the release of LFS Version 6.4. This release includes numerous changes to LFS-6.3 (including update to Linux-2.6.27.4, GCC-4.3.2, Glibc-2.8) and security fixes. It also includes a large amount of editorial work on the explanatory material throughout the book, improving both the clarity and accuracy of the text." Visit the project's news page to read the brief release announcement. The complete book is available for online viewing as well as for downloading: LFS-BOOK-6.5-rc1-HTML.tar.bz2 (175kB).

Ken Smith has announced the availability of the second beta release of FreeBSD 8.0: "BETA2 is still a little bit 'rough around the edges' and we still have various debugging tools enabled that cause the system to perform worse than it will when those debugging tools get disabled. We don't know of any issues that will 'eat your data' or anything like that so in that regard it's safe but we don't recommend it for production use quite yet. If you notice problems you can report them through the normal Gnats PR system or on the freebsd-current mailing list. ISO images for all supported architectures are available on the FTP sites, and a memory stick image is available for amd64 and i386 architectures." Follow the complete release announcement for further details. Download: 8.0-BETA2-i386-dvd1.iso (822MB, MD5), 8.0-BETA2-amd64-dvd1.iso (930MB, MD5).

Onur Küçük announced the official release of Pardus Linux 2009: "The international CD of Pardus 2009, containing 11 languages to choose from, is also available from FTP servers. This new release contains many bug fixes and enhancements. A new, shiny KDE 4 desktop environment, improved hardware support, latest releases of Pardus Manager tools, up-to-date software repository, and performance improvements are among the many new features of Pardus 2009. Pardus 2009 has also been improved graphically in every part of the distribution. All splash systems, from bootloader to login screen, have been revised. The latest version of Pardus contains up-to-date packages like KDE 4.2.4, Linux kernel 2.6.30.1, OpenOffice.org 3.1.0.6, Mozilla Firefox 3.5.1, GIMP 2.6.6, K3b 1.66, X.Org 1.6.2 and Python 2.6.2." Here is the complete release announcement. Download: Pardus_2009.iso (687MB, MD5, torrent), Pardus_2009_International.iso (696MB, MD5, torrent).

Jereme Hancock has announced the release of Ubuntu Christian Edition 5.0: "After almost a full year without a release we finally have the next release ready. We also have a new development team and focus. The release of Ubuntu Christian Edition 5.0, based on Ubuntu 9.04, is now available for download as well as from our repository. This has been a request from the very beginning. We are excited that now Ubuntu users can simply install Ubuntu Christian Edition using APT or Synaptic. This release is a back-to-basics release and should be considered beta at this point. We are focusing on the functionality for now and will work towards the aesthetics." See the release announcement and turn to the end of the changelog for further information. Download: ubuntu-9.04-christian_edition_v5.0.iso (694MB, MD5).

Steve Langasek has announced the release of Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS, the third update of the distribution's special version with long-term support (3 years on the desktop and 5 years on the server): "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS, the third maintenance update to Ubuntu's 8.04 LTS release. This release includes updated server, desktop and alternate installation CDs for the i386 and amd64 architectures. In all, 80 updates have been integrated, and updated installation media has been provided so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation. These include security updates and corrections for other high-impact bugs, with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS." Read the full release announcement for a complete list of changes. Download (SHA256): ubuntu-8.04.3-desktop-i386.iso (698MB), ubuntu-8.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso (697MB).

Stefan Lippers-Hollmann has announced the release of sidux 2009-02, a desktop Linux distribution based on Debian's unstable branch: "A little later than originally planned, we now have the pleasure to announce the immediate availability of sidux 2009-02 'Aether', shipping with kernel 2.6.30 and KDE 4.2.4. The ISO is completely based on Debian 'sid', enriched and stabilized with sidux' own packages and scripts. 'Aether' mostly concentrates on integrating KDE 4 into sidux and implementing the changes caused by kernel 2.6.30. We strongly recommend against allowing 'ia32-apt-get'." Read the detailed release notes for further information. Download the complete "KDE Full" or the lightweight "Xfce" live media (MD5): sidux-2009-02-aether-kde-full-i386-amd64-200907141427.iso (2,192MB), sidux-2009-02-xfce-i386.iso (482MB), sidux-2009-02-aether-xfce-amd64-200907141521.iso (489MB).

Version 7.0 of ExTiX, a desktop Linux distribution from Sweden based on paldo GNU/Linux, has been announced: "ExTiX has full Swedish language support and many more programs installed than paldo. This new version of ExTiX Linux live DVD includes the 2.6.30 -extix kernel by default, GNOME 2.26.1, OpenOffice.org 3.0.1, all development tools, GIMP 2.6.6, Skype 2.0.0.72 (free Internet telephony), Apache, all win32 codecs, VLC 1.0.0, GParted 1.3.6, aMule 2.2.2 (file sharing), Firefox 3.0.11, WINE 1.1.20, GNU Emacs 22.3.1 and Epiphany 2.26.1. Unionfs stacks your ExTiX ramdisk on top of a read-only file system on the DVD, the effect being that one can upkg-install, and otherwise modify all of the files on the running system. The standard GNOME and system language is English." Check for more information on the ExTiX website. Download: extix-v7-stable-1080mb-090709.iso (1,116MB, MD5).

Ronald Ropp has released the third beta build of wattOS 1.0, an Ubuntu-based desktop Linux distribution aiming at running computers in a lightweight but fully-featured way using less energy. What's new? "All of the improvements that you see in Ubuntu 9.04 you see in wattOS beta 3. Many of the improvements are under the hood, but improve the end user experience. Also the continued integration and evolution of the wattOS power management tool. Changes over beta 2 - all of the changes that improve things like hardware support, inclusive of the ongoing improvement of Ubuntu: improved hardware support including wireless networking; ext4 file system support; updates of almost all core applications; full LXDE integration; replacement of wicd with Network Manager; wattOS power manager installed by default; better clean-up of old files; addition of gwibber client." Read the full release announcement. More information like screenshots and video show can be found on wattOS website. Download: wattOSb3.iso (527MB, MD5).

A. J. Venter has announced the availability of Kongoni GNU/Linux 1.12.2, a free African GNU/Linux distribution based on Slackware with significant inspiration from the BSD architectures: "It is my pleasure to announce that Kongoni version 1.12.2, code-named Nietzsche, has been officially released. This marks the first official and stable release of the Kongoni GNU/Linux distribution after several development releases. The most significant Kongoni feature is its source-based software installation system (known as a ports tree), a feature that originated in the BSD UNIX world and remains a popular power-users tool on present-day BSD UNIXes, Apple's Mac OS X and source based GNU/Linux distributions. Kongoni, however, is not a source-based distribution. The distribution itself is shipped as binaries which work out of the box. The ports tree is used only for installing additional software." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download (MD5): kongoni32.nietsczhe-1_12_2.iso (667MB, torrent), kongoni64.nietsczhe-1_12_2.iso (686MB, torrent).

Onur Küçük announced the second release candidate of the Turkish Pardus Linux 2009: "The International CD of RC2, containing 11 languages to choose from, is also available in FTP. The new release contains many bugfixes and enhancements after the RC release. New release comes with improved hardware support for printers, scanners, webcams, wireless adapters and DVB devices. Pardus 2009 RC2 has also been improved graphically in every part of the distribution. All the splash systems from bootloader to login screen have been improved. Migration tool, allowing users of Windows to migrate their personal data now comes with the installation CD. Pardus repositories are growing larger and larger everyday, with the main repository over 2000 packages." Here is the complete release announcement. Download: Pardus_2009_RC2.iso (680MB, MD5, torrent), Pardus_2009_International_RC2.iso (693MB, MD5, torrent).

Patrick Verner has announced the release of Parted Magic 4.3, a bug fix release of the popular live CD designed for hard disk management tasks: "Not only did some bugs get fixed, but a few new programs were added too. chntpw, nilfs-utils 2.0.12, gdisk 0.2.2, Adblock Plus 1.0.2 are now part of Parted Magic's program line-up. These programs have been updated: udev 143, glib 2.20.4, GTK+ 2.16.4, e2fsprogs 1.41.7, Firefox 3.5, FireFTP 1.0.5, Clonezilla 2.3.3-65, Linux kernel 2.6.30.1, p7zip_9.04, Partclone 0.1.1-15, NDISwrapper 1.55. We also took some time to redo the artwork. Many thanks to Jason Vasquez for heading up this effort. I think it's the best-looking version of Parted Magic yet!" Visit the project's home page to read the full release announcement. Download: pmagic-4.3.iso.zip (92.8MB, MD5).

Point Clark Networks announced the availability of the community edition of ClarkConnect 5.0, a specialist CentOS-based distribution for routers, gateways and firewalls: "Highlights include: upgrade to CentOS 5.x; complete LDAP integration; protocol filtering; improved bandwidth management; mail quarantine; improved Windows integration (roaming profiles, recycle bin support, file auditing). Version 5.x supports upgrades from ClarkConnect 4.x and later. Upgrades from earlier versions are not supported. When you run the ClarkConnect installer, make sure you select the upgrade option. The 5.0 release is a major operating system upgrade, so it is not possible to perform the upgrade on a live system. In addition, users who have installed third party software packages or used the command-line apt-get tool to install software should also run the following command: yum upgrade. Known Issues: blank screens on first boot with some types of hardware; localization is incomplete." Read the detailed release notes and the changelog for more information. Download (MD5): community-5.0.iso (595MB).

CrunchBang Linux 9.04.01, an Ubuntu-based distribution featuring the lightweight Openbox window manager, is now available: "After a slight delay and a prolonged testing period, the final builds of CrunchBang Linux 9.04.01 are now available. As the version number suggests, it is based on Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope. As with all previous releases, 9.04.01 has been built from scratch using the Ubuntu MinimalCD. The builds were completed on the 6th July 2009 and contain all security and package updates available at that time. For the first time, CrunchBang Linux is available to download in both 32 and 64-bit builds. Other noticeable changes as a result of moving to the latest stable Ubuntu release include: much improved boot performance with faster start-up times; improved support for wireless cards; ext4 filesystem support." See the release announcement for further details. Download (MD5) the Standard or Lite edition from here: crunchbang-9.04.01.i386.iso (621MB), crunchbang-9.04.01.amd64.iso (674MB), crunchbang-lite-9.04.01.i386.iso (427MB), crunchbang-lite-9.04.01.amd64.iso (437MB).

Miklós Vajna announced the availability of the second pre-release of Frugalware Linux 1.1, a complete, general-purpose distribution designed for intermediate Linux users: "The Frugalware Developer Team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Frugalware 1.1pre2, the second technical preview of the upcoming 1.1 stable release. Improvements: an x86_64 flash plugin is now part of the default installation; though we ship the latest stable kernel, we did not switch the default value of the 'data' option to 'writeback', the feature which still makes ext3 seem more robust than ext4 at the time of writing. Package updates: GNU C library 2.10.1; Linux kernel 2.6.30; Xorg 7.4 with xorg-server 1.6; GNOME 2.26.3; Xfce 4.6.1; GCC 4.4.0; more than 980 package updates; more than 100 new packages." Here are the brief release announcement and the changelog. Interested beta testers can download the installation DVD image from here: frugalware-1.1pre2-i686-dvd1.iso (4,277MB, SHA1, torrent).

The PC-BSD Team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of PC-BSD 7.1.1, a desktop operating system based on FreeBSD 7.2: "Version 7.1.1 contains a number of bugfixes and improvements from PC-BSD 7.1, including KDE 4.2.4, improvements to printing support, Xorg Server 1.6.1, and much more. For a full list of changes, please refer to the changelog. Users who wish to upgrade from PC-BSD 7.0.x / 7.1 are able to do so via the upgrade / repair option during the installation. Software specs: FreeBSD 7.2-Stable, KDE 4.2.4, Xorg 7.4, Nvidia driver 185.18.14, Nvidia driver 173.14.18, Nvidia driver 96.43.11, Nvidia driver 71.86.11." Read the press release, release notes and changelog for more details. Download (MD5): PCBSD7.1.1-x86-DVD.iso (2,030MB, MD5, torrent), PCBSD7.1.1-x64-DVD.iso (2,028MB, MD5, torrent).

Ken Smith announced the availability of the first beta release of FreeBSD 8.0: "The first public test build of the FreeBSD 8.0-RELEASE test cycle is now available, 8.0-BETA1. Through the next week or so more information about the release will be posted but here is the current target schedule for the other 'major events': BETA2 July 13, 2009; BETA3 July 20, 2009; RC1 July 27, 2009; RC2 August 17, 2009; RELEASE August 31, 2009. At this point it is not quite ready for production systems but mostly because there is still some ongoing work in a few areas that may cause some changes in things like ABI/API. Debugging supports (WITNESS, malloc debugging, etc.) are also still turned on and those tend to cause a performance hit. As far as we know there are no known issues that would cause data corruption or anything like that, just the issues with performance and potential for changes caused by ongoing work." Read the complete release announcement for further details. Download: 8.0-BETA1-i386-dvd1.iso (531MB, MD5), 8.0-BETA1-amd64-dvd1.iso (636MB, MD5).

Onur Küçük announced the availability of the release candidate of Pardus Linux 2009: "Highlight of this release is the new International Pardus 2009 ISO. You can now choose any of the 11 languages to install and enjoy Pardus 2009, all in one CD. The new test version of Pardus 2009 contains up-to-date packages like KDE 4.2.4, Linux kernel 2.6.30, OpenOffice.Org 3.1.0, Firefox 3.5, GIMP 2.6.6, K3b 1.66, X.Org 1.6.2pre, and Python 2.6.2. Managers now share the same look and feel, have many optimizations and new features. Hardware support has been improved. Support for many new printers, scanners and webcams has been added, and many bug fixes are integrated to hardware system. Known issues: on some wireless adapters, signal strength can be detected incorrectly." Here is the complete release announcement. Download: Pardus_2009_RC.iso (668MB, MD5, torrent), Pardus_2009_International_RC.iso (695MB, MD5, torrent).

Calculate Linux Desktop (CLD) is a Gentoo-based operating system for PCs and notebooks. Alexander Tratsevskiy has just announced a new version 9.7 of its KDE edition. Main changes: "Support for Italian and Polish has been added. System installation on USB Flash cards has been added. Setting up of a new user account in KDE has been accelerated 2.5 times. Setting up sound card has been added. The identification of PCs and notebooks with two video cards has been added. Option of booting the live DVD image into the cache has been added. File README.html with description of installation has been added to the live CD desktop. Calculate Linux Desktop KDE is 100% compatible with Gentoo." More information in the release announcement. Download: cld-9.7-i686.iso (1,390MB, MD5), cld-9.7-x86_64.iso (1,470MB, MD5).

Patrick Volkerding has announced that Slackware "Current", the distribution's development branch, has reached release candidate status: "The to-do isn't entirely empty here, but it's pretty much down to minor nits, and so we're going to call this release candidate 1 and (mostly) freeze further updates unless they happen to fix problems. Regarding the kernel, 2.6.29.x has been well tested with this userspace and seems like the best choice to ship for production use. Perhaps we can put something else (at least source and configurations) in /testing, though." See the complete changelog for further information regarding updates and changes. As always with Slackware, there are no official ISO images released for download, but unofficial weekly builds are available from slackware.no (MD5): slackware-current-30_Jun_2009-DVD.iso (1,747MB), slackware64-current-30_Jun_2009-DVD.iso (1,682MB).

Red Hat has announced the availability of the beta release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.4: "Red Hat is pleased to announce the availability of the beta release of 5.4 (Linux kernel 2.6.18-155.el5) for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 family of products. This beta includes the following improvements: full support for the KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) hypervisor; Power Systems LPAR enablement; new SAP resources agents for SAP instance and SAP database; virtual machine (vm.sh) resource agent now uses libvirt; new fencing agent for Cisco MDS SAN switches and IBM LPAR instances via HMC; updated ALSA audio infrastructure; improvements for docking and undocking with CD-ROM in dock; updates to i810, Intel, mga, ATI, and nv drivers; FUSE is fully supported...." Read the rest of the detailed release announcement for a complete list of changes and new features. As usual, this beta release of RHEL is available to existing customers from Red Hat Networks.

Bill Reynolds has announced the release of PCLinuxOS 2009.2, a beginner-friendly distribution and live CD for the desktop: "The quarterly ISO image updates of PCLinuxOS 2009.2 and PCLinuxOS GNOME 2009.2 are now available, featuring a fully updated ISO image with the latest applications from the PCLinuxOS repositories. Additional features include a notification updater to let you know when there are updates available for your installation. 'Addlocale' will localize your PCLinuxOS into one of the many languages. 'GetOpenOffice' allows you to install OpenOffice.org 3.1 in any of the 104 languages available." Here is the brief release announcement with a couple of screenshots. Download: pclinuxos-2009.2.iso (690MB, MD5), pclinuxos-gnome-2009.2.iso (674MB, MD5).

Stefan Lippers-Hollmann has announced the availability of the first preview release of sidux 2009-02, a desktop-oriented distribution based on Debian's unstable branch: "We have the pleasure to announce the availability of the first preview for sidux 2009-02 'Aether', shipping with kernel 2.6.30. 'Aether' mostly concentrates on integrating KDE 4 into sidux and implementing the changes caused by kernel 2.6.30. While KDE 4 is certainly a work in progress, both upstream and in terms of making it viable for a release, this marks the first milestone release for sidux. Be aware that the KDE-lite flavours avoid KDE 3 and Qt 3 packages, which means that K3b, Kaffeine and UMTSmon are not installed. These packages will be part of the KDE-full flavours and are still installable." Read the detailed release notes to learn more about all the changes in this release. Download (MD5): sidux-2009-02-pre1-kde-i386.iso (582MB), sidux-2009-02-pre1-kde-amd64.iso (587MB), sidux-2009-02-pre1-xfce-i386-amd64.iso (760MB).

Fixstars has announced the release of Yellow Dog Linux 6.2, a CentOS-based distribution designed for the Apple PowerPC and Sony PlayStation machines: "Fixstars today announced the immediate availability of Yellow Dog Linux 6.2, delivering several updates and improvements making it simpler to install, faster, and easier to use. This release offers an updated kernel 2.6.29 for 64-bit systems, OpenOffice.org 3.0, Firefox 3.0.6 and IBM Cell SDK 3.1.0.1, as well as the next generation of ps3vram for fast, temporary file storage or swap using PS3 video RAM. With this release, ps3vram is up to 50% faster than in Yellow Dog Linux 6.1 and is automatically enabled as swap. With Yellow Dog Linux 6.2, Fixstars has added a fourth alternative for the desktop environment: Xfce." Read the full release announcement for further details. Yellow Dog Linux 6.2 is available for immediate download from the YDL.net subscription service (US$69.95) and will be released to pubic mirrors for free download at the end of July.

blackPanther OS is a Hungarian desktop Linux distribution with RPM package management. The just released version 9.1 is a major update, featuring many new technologies, Linux kernel 2.6.29.1, KDE 4.2.0 and OxygenOffice 3.1. Besides the live CD, the distribution provides a total of eight software repositories containing over 4,800 extra packages, including a good selection of games and a variety of kernel drivers. There is also a seeker repository with over 2,000 untested packages. Although blackPanther OS is a free distribution, the developers have included some blackPanther ads and sponsored links into the distribution in order to earn revenue - these can be removed by users. For more information please see the release announcement (in Hungarian). Download the CD edition (a DVD edition will be released in a few days) from here: blackPantherOS_v9.1.iso (694MB, MD5).

Kris Moore has announced the availability of the second release candidate for PC-BSD 7.1.1, a FreeBSD-based operating system for the desktop: "I've just finished uploading PC-BSD 7.1.1 RC2 for your inspection. This version fixes many of the bugs you've reported from RC1, and also seems to fix a lot of the issues with Intel video cards. Changelog: updated 7.2-STABLE to 2009-06-24; fixed bugs in py-cups port, which corrects 'Print a test page' failure from the GUI; fixed bugs in ksyslog program, now finds /var/log/messages properly; added GVim to the menu; removed obsolete printing menu icons; improved the system updater tray, don't issue pop-up on failure, change icon instead; updated WINE to 1.1.24, which fixes issues with certain 3D games; miscellaneous other bug fixes." Read the full release announcement for more details and known issues. Download: PCBSD7.1.1-RC2-x86-DVD.iso (1,976MB, MD5).

Robert Shingledecker has announced the release of Tiny Core Linux 2.1, a minimalist desktop distribution in 11 MB: "The Tiny Core team is pleased to announce version 2.1 of Tiny Core and Micro Core Linux. Changelog: new modutils results in much space savings; new changed from using initramfs to tmpfs for better support of df and mount bind option; new Squashfs module to prevent spurious Squashfs errors upon boot; new aterm for better interaction with Appbrowser; new waitforX eliminates WM timing issues; new BusyBox 1.13.4 - command line history set to 150; new usbinstall, a command line tool to install to pen drive; new upgrade_tce.sh command line script, an extremely conservative batch upgrade script; new added modules hwmon and rfkill for better support of laptops; updated virtual hard drive to support persistent home on a virtual hard drive...." Read the rest of the release announcement for more changes. Download: tinycore_2.1.iso (11.0MB, MD5).

Joern Lindau has announced the release of Toorox 06.2009, a Gentoo-based live DVD featuring the latest KDE 4: "Toorox 06.2009 is finished now. As always, the KDE was updated to the latest version 4.2.4. The recent CVS snapshot of the lancelot_part plasmoid was included because Qt was updated to 4.5.1 and the old version of the plasmoid had some trouble with it. The USB stick creator script was optimised; now there are three options - static, personal and encrypted. For the last two options the home folder will be stored and with the remaining option even password-encrypted when shut down. Now two partitions will be created - ext2 for Toorox and FAT32 for regular data storage on the pen drive. Some users had kernel panics after installation and booting from an USB hard disk - this has been fixed." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: Toorox_06.2009.iso (1,713MB, MD5).

Paul Sherman has announced the availability of the first release candidate for Absolute Linux 13.0, a lightweight modification of Slackware Linux for the desktop: "Absolute Linux 13.0 RC1 released. Pre-release that includes fixes for slapt-get and wicd, addition of a control panel, centralizing control and eliminating the sometimes confusing utilities menus. Big updates to Midori and Inkscape on repositories (under /CD2). New theme, new log on, Qt 4 up and running, several new applications along with Qt 4-based K3b. Overall a more cohesive look and simpler navigation. Wanted a release candidate so that 13.0 will not necessitate updates -- also wanted to have feedback on whether Midori is functional enough to become the default browser. (It uses about 1/3 the memory of Firefox in my tests.)" Visit the distribution's home page to read the release announcement. Download: absolute-13.0.rc1.iso (698MB, MD5).

Calculate Directory Server is a Gentoo-based LDAP server providing a centralised storage of application settings, user accounts and access privileges. A new version of the product was announced yesterday. Some of the main changes include: "Support for Italian and Polish languages; support for the proxy service with user authorization in LDAP; support for Samba group settings in the LDAP server; support for setting of some Jabber service hosts; isolinux has been used for booting; when booting from CD user can now select a keyboard layout; support from loading the CD into memory; improved hardware compatibility when booting from a USB DVD...." More information in the release announcement. Download: cds-9.7-i686.iso (514MB, MD5), cds-9.7-x86_64.iso (545MB, MD5).

Marko Kaiser has announced the release of linuX-gamers Live 0.9.5, a set of Arch-based live media (on CD, DVD and USB drives) featuring a variety of popular 3D games: "We are proud to announce a new version of our live DVD at LinuxTag 2009 in Berlin. We now have different versions of our distribution: 'Lite ISO' - a small CD image containing a limited selection of games suitable for children and older computers; 'Lite USB' - the same selection of games as 'Lite ISO' but for USB keys; 'Big ISO' - a big DVD image (4.7 GB) containing the full selection of games for adults and more recent computers; 'Big USB' - contains full selection of fames, but is meant for USB sticks with the capacity of at least 5 GB capacity." Here is the complete release announcement. Download (MD5): lg-live-0.9.5-i686-big.iso (4,330MB, torrent), lg-live-0.9.5-i686-lite.iso (673MB, torrent).

Greg Bruno has announced the release of Rocks Cluster Distribution 5.2, a specialist, CentOS-based distribution designed to make it simple to build high-performance computer clusters: "Rocks 5.2 is released for Linux on the i386 and x86_64 CPU architectures and Solaris for the x86_64 architecture. New features: with the new JumpStart roll one can now install and configure a Linux-based Rocks front-end to 'JumpStart' Solaris-based back-end machines; can assign 'attributes' to nodes at four levels - global, appliance type, OS (e.g., Linux or SunOS), and host; Anaconda installer updated to version 11.1.2.168; isolated MySQL for the Rocks database under /opt/rocks; fix for software RAID partitioning...." Read the rest of the release announcement for further information. Download (MD5): area51.i386.disk1.iso (2,335MB), area51.x86_64.disk1.iso (2,713MB).

MoLinux 5.0, a Spanish, Ubuntu-based distribution developed by the regional government of Castilla la Mancha in Spain, has been released. Code-named "Dorotea", in reference to a pretty girl in Cervantes' Don Quijote de la Mancha, MoLinux 5.0 is distributed as an installable live DVD. New features: improved hardware support and boot speed; optional ext4 file system support; connectivity improvements with the latest version of NetworkManager; newest versions of most of the included applications. New software: GNOME Control Centre for configuring the system; CompizConfig, a utility for setting up 3D desktop effects; Tucan, a download manager; Gru, a tool for restoring the bootloader in case it has been accidentally overwritten or damaged.... Please refer to the release announcement and release notes (both links in Spanish) for further details about the release. Download: Molinux_5.0_Dorotea.iso (1,138MB, MD5).

Clement Lefebvre has announced that the 64-bit edition of Linux Mint 7 is now available: "The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 7 'x86_64'. This edition of Linux Mint 7 is almost identical to the main edition but, compiled for 64-bit processors (Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Core 2 Quad, AMD Athlon X2 64 and all x86_64 compliant processors). It comes with all the improvements featured in Linux Mint 7 main edition. Known issues: the root password is now the same as the one chosen during the installation, a blog post will follow to explain why and how this was implemented; if you're using Mint tools in other distributions, make sure to turn off the adjustment system by editing mintSystem.conf." Read the rest of the release announcement for more information. Download (MD5): LinuxMint-7-x64.iso (694MB).

Ian Wells has announced the availability of the fourth beta release of SME Server, a CentOS-based distribution for servers: "The SME Server development team is pleased to announce the release of SME Server 8.0 beta 4 which will be the next major release of SME Server. This release is based on CentOS 5.3 and all packages have been updated to the latest versions. Testers please note: CentOS 5 has dropped support for i586 and therefore SME Server 8 will not work on i586 hardware; upgrading from previous releases should only be done on clean machines. Issues with upgrading from clean SME machines can be reported in the bug tracker, but detailed reviews of upgrading paths will not start until release candidate versions are made available." Here is the release announcement with a full changelog. Download: smeserver-8.0beta4-i386.iso (615MB, MD5).

The development of Elive 2.0 continues at a furious pace with another development build announced today. What's new? "USB Live - a tool to make a USB stick an Elive bootable live system; Acer Aspire One - perfectly supported, also with a special tool to disable the fan when not needed (very noisy in the bed); Flash updated to the version 10.0.22.87; better characters for the console mode, more languages supported, smaller font size for console; audio player - we have finally moved from XMMS to Audacious; Russian support is now fixed; miscellaneous installer fixes, specially for those who wanted to use the upgrade mode with a dedicated /home partition, this feature is working again...." Read the full release announcement for further details. Download: elive_1.9.31_unstable.iso (679MB, MD5).

Flavio Pereira de Oliveira has announced the release of GoblinX 3.0 "G:Mini" edition, a small, Slackware-based distribution and live CD with Xfce: "The GoblinX Project is proud to announce the release of the a stable G:Mini distribution. The G:Mini, formerly known as 'GoblinX Mini' is the son of GoblinX and contains only Xfce as the windows manager and GTK+ applications. g:Mini 3.0 includes the latest Xfce 4.6 which has brought several improvements and new features. Xfce session now offers hibernate and suspend options. It has a new notification system with themes managed by Xfce 'notifyd', Xfce power manager to help laptop users set up a power profile for two different modes, Gigolo to manage connections to remote file systems, a better control center and more." See the release announcement and changelog for more information. Download (MD5): g.Mini-3.0.iso (289MB).

Guadalinex 6, a Spanish, Ubuntu-based distribution developed by the regional government of AndalucÃ­a in Spain, has been released. This version incorporates new functionality inherited from Ubuntu 9.04, with some of the most noticeable improvements being faster boot, several new programs and utilities, and the ability to run Windows applications. However, the new Guadalinex also includes features that differentiates it from Ubuntu, such as the Amigu migration assistant which can import files, settings, email and browser favourites from Windows (including Vista), and a practical user manual written specifically for this version of the distribution. Read the release announcement (in Spanish) for further details and see also this blog post by Juanje Ojeda (in English) which explains the goals of the distribution. Download (MD5): guadalinex-v6-desktop-final.iso (4,373MB).

MEPIS has announced the availability of the first test release of antiX MEPIS 8.2, a lightweight edition of MEPIS Linux designed for older computers: "The antiX-team is proud to announce that an updated antiX MEPIS 8.2 public test 1 is available at MEPIS mirrors. Public test 1 comes with the latest upgrades from MEPIS and Debian Testing, including X.Org Server 1.6, 2.6.27 MEPIS kernel, Iceweasel 3.0.11, AbiWord 2.6.8, Pidgin 2.5 and slightly adapted MEPIS tools for better use in antiX. Localisation is much improved, 10 languages are fully supported out of the box. Language chosen at live CD boot will carry over to install. Boot time should be faster, particularly if the 'Faster' option is chosen at boot menu. There are major changes in antiX control centre design." Here is the full release announcement. Download: antiX-M8.2-pt1.iso (468MB, MD5).

Carlos La Borde has announced the release of iMagic OS 2009.6, a commercial distribution based on Ubuntu: "The new iMagic OS has arrived! Now featuring Songbird music player and GIMP 2.6.6, iMagic OS 2009.6 is more up to date than ever, along with a whole host of new features, including a completely new and re-organized semi-transparent menu to save you time, a brand new wallpaper and updated 3D effects, among others. Upgrades are now completely invisible to the user. Whenever our team hears of or discovers a new upgrade, or a system issue, or just a simple usability enhancement, iMagic OS will automatically install it without hassling you with dialogs or taskbar notices, and without waiting until you are shut down your computer to stall, saving you time and work." Read the rest of the release announcement for more information. iMagic OS 2009.06 is available for purchase from the project's online store (US$29.99).

Anne Nicolas has announced the availability of the first alpha release of Mandriva Linux 2010: "Mandriva Linux 2010 Alpha 1 is now available on public mirrors. Among many items you will find: improve boot time; clean and complete GRUB and install menu; use of Plymouth and fallback to Splashy for unsupported chipsets; switch to Tomoyo security framework, provide GUI for common setup, integrated also in msec; guest account created on the fly when needed; packaging of Moblin, use it as default environment if stable enough when light hardware configuration is detected; auto-detection of local urpmi repositories...." See the release announcement and release notes for further information. For this first alpha only the "Free" installation DVD images are available for download: mandriva-linux-free-alpha-cooker-i586.iso (4,177MB, MD5), mandriva-linux-free-alpha-cooker-x86_64.iso (4,364MB, MD5).

Volker Theile has announced the availability of the first release candidate for FreeNAS 0.7, a FreeBSD-based operating system providing free Network-Attached Storage (NAS) services: "Today I am proud to announce the release of the first release candidate of version 0.7. It took a really long time to make this version as it is now, but i think it was worth the wait. Majors changes: upgrade to FreeBSD 7.2; include ZFS support; upgrade iSCSI initiator to 2.1.1; replace iSCSI target with istgt; add WOL patch for NVIDIA (nfe) and 3Com (xl); re-factor 'Diagnostics Log' WebGUI; add kernel patches to get ARTiGO A2000 hardware working; upgrade Transmission to 1.61; add 'iperf', a tool to measure maximum TCP and UDP bandwidth...." Read the full release announcement for further details. Download the installable live DVD images from here: FreeNAS-i386-LiveCD-0.7RC1.iso (69.3MB, MD5), FreeNAS-amd64-LiveCD-0.7RC1.iso (72.7MB, MD5).

Glenn Cady has announced the release of Ultimate Edition 2.2, a desktop Linux distribution and live DVD based on Ubuntu, but enhanced with extra software, device drivers and multimedia codecs: "Ultimate Edition 2.2. This release was built from Ubuntu 9.04 'Jaunty Jackalope' with all the goodies you have come to love in prior Ultimate Edition releases pre-added and all upgrades pre-installed for your convenience. This release has two kernels - 2.6.28-13 and 2.6.28-11, selectable at boot time, increasing your chances of success." Read the rest of the release announcement which contains a number of screenshots. Download (MD5) the installable live DVD images from here: ultimate-edition-2.2-x86.iso (2,033MB, torrent), ultimate-edition-2.2-x64.iso (2,024MB).

Max Moser has announced the availability of a pre-final release of BackTrack 4, an Ubuntu-based distribution featuring a collection of security testing and forensics tools: "The Remote Exploit team is ecstatic to announce the public release of BackTrack 4 pre-final (code name 'pwnsauce'). We have major changes in BackTrack, and have tried to document and summarize them as best as possible. See the BackTrack Guide PDF and check out our Introduction to BackTrack 4 movie for more information. We have opened up new sub-forum for this release, please report bugs and suggestions!" Here is the brief release announcement. Download: bt4-pre-final.iso (1,329MB MD5).

Point Clark Networks has announced the availability of the second release candidate for ClarkConnect 5.0, a specialist CentOS-based distribution for routers, gateways and firewalls: "ClarkConnect 5.0 release candidate 2 is out. What's new? For new installations, ClarkConnect 5.0 is close to final release quality. There are a number of known issues that need to be addressed. For upgrades from version 4.x, this release should be considered beta quality and not as thoroughly tested. Known issues: starting the CUPS print server for the first time will hang Webconfig; the 'users' group may not work when accessed via Samba; you may see 'directory is unavailable' warnings from time to time; the mail archive will show a database connection error on first load...." Read the detailed release notes for more information. Download: community-5.0-rc2.iso (596MB MD5).

GeeXboX 1.2.2, a standalone, Linux-based media player, has been released: "GeeXboX 1.2.2 - feature enhancement release. With a few interesting patches recently having been committed to 2.0 development tree, people on the forum asked for backport of these to the stable 1.2 release. So did we, adding a new key feature, with multi-threaded video decoding support. Non-IT people can see this as a way to finally make use of their brand-new multi-core CPU systems providing parallelized treatment. And the results are pretty good, with a 1.8x video decoding speed boost on Core 2 Duo and 3.0x speed-up with Core 2 Quad. It is now truly possible to actually decode 1080p HDTV streams on Linux." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download (MD5): geexbox-1.2.2-en.i386.glibc.iso (18.9MB), geexbox-1.2.2-en.x86_64.glibc.iso (20.1MB).

Onur Küçük has announced the availability of the beta release of Pardus Linux 2009: "The second testing release of Pardus Linux 2009 is ready. The latest stable release of KDE, version 4.2.4, is available with enhancements. Pardus Linux 2009 beta comes with many new features in the PiSi and COMAR base tools, YALI installation program and KAPTAN. The new version contains up-to-date packages: KDE 4.2.4, Linux kernel 2.6.30_rc8, OpenOffice.org 3.1.0, Mozilla Firefox 3.5 RC1, GIMP 2.6.6, X.Org Server 1.6.2pre. Many more managers are now ready for Pardus 2009, they share the same look and feel, have many optimizations and new features. Also there is a new tool in town, System Manager, which can be used to manage system-wide preferences through a graphical interface." Here is the complete release announcement. Download: Pardus_2009_Beta.iso (680MB, MD5, torrent).

The ALT Linux development team has announced the availability of the first beta release of ALT Linux 5.0, a Russian general-purpose distribution for servers and workstations. Some of the new features in this release include: choice of two desktop environments - KDE 4 and GNOME; optimised for office deployment, with Internet, electronic mail and office suite of applications; integration with server on many levels, including centralised authentication, virtual containers and file storage; support for interaction between virtual private networks; centralised update mechanism for servers and workstations; convenient web-based system administration. Read the full release announcement (in Russian) for further information. Download (MD5 the desktop installation DVDs: altlinux-5.0.0_beta-desktop-i586-ru-install-dvd5.iso (2,876MB), altlinux-5.0.0_beta-desktop-x86_64-ru-install-dvd5.iso (2,868MB).

Prithish Mathews has announced the release of Macpup Opera, a minimalist desktop Linux distribution based on Puppy Linux, but using the Enlightenment window manager: "Macpup Opera is the latest from the Macpup team. It is based on Ttuuxxx's 4.2v2 'Deeper Thought' a 'no Bling' edition of Puppy Linux 4.2 with all of the current updates. It has D-Bus 1.2.4 compiled and installed from source and the Enlightenment 17 desktop version 0.17.999.060 compiled and installed from source with the updated version of librsvg 2.26.0. Also included is the Opera 9.64 browser compiled by Ttuuxxx. Works with both X.Org and Xvesa video drivers. Runs all the latest Enlightenment 17 themes and backgrounds. There is an option on the exit menu to switch back to JWM, if required." Please visit the project's home page to read the brief release announcement. Download: Macpup_Opera.iso (131MB, MD5).

Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 4.9, a Debian-based live CD and web kiosk designed for deployments in places like offices or Internet cafés where only web applications are used. What's new? "Shows a new Iceweasel (Firefox) security update 3.0.11; back to Xpdf despite printing dialog problems, because it's lighter and integrates better with the browser (no EULA to agree to every time); Webconverger base 4.9 featuring wireless essid with spaces fix and a compose key option; known to work flawlessly with Eee PC 900. Known issues: hard drive installer is not present on the ISO edition (or any edition for that matter)." Here are the brief release notes. Download: webc-4.9.iso (223MB, MD5).

Patrick Verner has announced the release of Parted Magic 4.2, an updated version of the popular live CD designed for hard disk management tasks: "I guess it's about time to release another version of Parted Magic. Clonezilla is now part of Parted Magic's program line-up! This is not a dual boot set-up like some people have done in the past, the actual program Clonezilla can be launched directly from the Parted Magic desktop. It took some modifications to get it working and the Clonezilla author Steven Shiau did a fantastic job helping us make the necessary changes to Parted Magic so it would work the way it was intended to work. We also replaced bzip2 with pbzip2 and gzip with pigz." Visit the project's home page to read the full release announcement. Download: pmagic-4.2.iso.zip (91.4MB, MD5).

BlankOn 5.0, an Ubuntu-based distribution designed for Indonesian users, has been released: "Today the BlankOn developer team officially released BlankOn 5.0, code name 'Nanggar'. Some of the new unique features in Nanggar are contextual desktop, with the ability to change the theme and the wallpaper of the desktop based on the computer clock or based on the current weather conditions. Another unique feature is the Aksara Nusantara project which gives the ability to write in Batak Toba alphabet. BlankOn Nanggar provides a user guide that can be downloaded from here. Features: GNOME 2.26; office applications - OpenOffice.org 3.0.1, GnuCash; GIMP 2.6.6, Inkscape 0.46, Firefox 3.0 web browser; Linux kernel 2.6.28." See the full release notes (bi-lingual in Bahasa Indonesia and English) for further information. Download: blankon-5.0-cdlive-i386.iso (677MB, MD5, torrent).

Linux-EduCD is a Polish distribution and live DVD based on Mandriva Linux, designed for deployment in Polish educational establishments. The project released version 1.0 (code name "Valis") yesterday. Besides educational programs, the distribution also includes a variety of multimedia, office and development software. It ships with Linux kernel 2.6.26.8, with support for SATA drives and many popular Intel and Atheros wireless network cards. Other features and applications include improved administration centre, a live USB creator, Firefox 3.0.10, OpenOffice.org 3.0.1, GIMP 2.6.6, MySQL 5.0.45, Apache 2.2, pre-configured WordPress 2.7.1, SciLab 4.1.1, Celestia 1.4.1, Xephem 3.7.2, OpenDX 4.4, GenChemLab and others. Please see the release announcement (in Polish) for further information and screenshots. Download: educd10dvd_valis.iso (1,143MB, MD5).

Samuel Baggen has released Elive 1.9.29 "Compiz" edition, a new development build of the Debian-based live CD featuring Enlightenment 17 with 3D desktop effects: "The Elive team is proud to announce the development release of Elive Compiz, version 1.9.29. Work is being focused on improving the next stable release of Elive 2.0, yet we are glad to have available an improved Compiz edition of Elive. Changes: big rewrite of hibernation support in Elive, with many extras, such as cleanup of old hibernated partitions; many bug fixes and features in the installer; fixed broken messages (dialog boxes) during boot in live mode; a simple webcam viewer has been added to video menu of applications; improved 3D acceleration of Intel graphics cards; the Compiz cube effect works again...." Read the full release announcement for a more complete changelog. Download: elive_1.9.29-compiz_unstable.iso (686MB, MD5).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the second alpha release of Ubuntu 9.10, code name "Karmic Koala": "Welcome to Karmic Koala Alpha 2, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.10." What's new? Updated packages; GNOME 2.27.1; Linux kernel 2.6.30 with kernel mode setting enabled for Intel graphics; new Intel video driver architecture; new compiler - GCC 4.4; ext4 as the default file system; GRUB 2 as the default bootloader; underlying technology for power management and laptop Fn key maps moved from hal to DeviceKit-power. Please refer to the release announcement and release notes for more details and known issues. Download (MD5): karmic-desktop-i386.iso (688MB, torrent), karmic-desktop-amd64.iso (694MB, torrent). Also released today were alpha 2 CD images for Kubuntu 9.10 (download) and Xubuntu 9.10 (download).

John Van Gaans has announced the release of TEENpup Linux 2009 "Legacy", a general-purpose desktop distribution for older computers based on Puppy Linux: "Today sees the fifth release of TEENpup and once again it's based on Puppy 2.14. This time the ISO image has grown to just under 700 MB so that it will fit on a CD. As the focus for TEENpup has shifted to a modern operating system for older PCs which most likely only came with a CD drive, it was felt that a 700MB size limit should be adhered to. To attract users from Windows, TEENpup's default color scheme has been modeled on some of Vista's coloring. Also, there's something I created called 'Magic Scripts', which is a drag & drop arrangement - all you do is drag & drop, say, an audio or video file and it will allow you to convert it to another format." Read the rest of the release announcement for more information. Download: TEENpup2009Legacy.iso (696MB, MD5).

Stanislav Hoferek has announced the release of Greenie Linux 5J, an Ubuntu-based distribution and live CD optimised for Slovak and Czech speakers. What's new? Based on Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" (Linux kernel 2.6.28, OpenOffice.org 3.0.1), actualised with all recent security updates; new keyboard shortcuts for launching Firefox, calculator or any other application; availability of a meta package that can turn a standard Ubuntu install into Greenie Linux; new documentation; inclusion of Greenshot - a utility that takes a screenshot and uploads into to ImageShack in three seconds; availability of extra applications, including Skype, VLC and Opera via Greenport; new desktop theme.... Read the full release announcement (in Slovak) for more details. Download: greenie-5.0.1j.iso (697MB, MD5).

Robert Shingledecker has announced the release Tiny Core Linux 2.0, a minimalist (11 MB), but extensible Linux distribution for the desktop: "Team Tiny Core is pleased to announce the release of Tiny Core Linux 2.0 and introduce MicroCore, a 7 MB, no-X environment ISO image based on Tiny Core Linux. Change log: new Linux kernel 2.6.29.1 and modules; new glibc 2.9; new libstdc++, libgcc, ldconfig; new Dropbear 0.52; new flPicSee 0.9.1, new scaling, zomming, and pop-up information; new Squashfs module to base for support of 'squashed' extensions; new cryptohome to use AES; new mount and losetup; new virtual drive support; new extension-driven desktop boot option, adding a WM extension no longer requires the corresponding desktop=xyz option; updated JWM, fixed full screen video bug...." Here is the full release announcement. Download: tinycore_2.0.iso (11.0MB, MD5).

Chen Ping-Hsun has announced the release of xPUD 0.9, a minimalist desktop Linux distribution with a custom user interface: "We're proud to announce a new version of xPUD, a small and fast Linux distribution with an easy-to-use user interface. Version 0.9 is full of improvements and exciting new features: built-in support for netbooks, tested on ASUS Eee PC, Acer Aspire One, MSI Wind, Lenovo IdeaPad, Dell Mini; runs on virtual machine, including VirtualBox, VMware and QEMU; multilingual support - Chinese (both traditional and simplified), English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish translations; system tray that display time, network status, battery status and memory usage; WiFi and Ethernet network manager has been greatly improved...." Read the complete release announcement for further details and a handful of screenshots. Download: xpud-0.9.iso (51.2MB).

Justin Boffemmyer has announced the release of a new stable installation ISO image for Source Mage GNU/Linux, an independently-developed source-based distribution: "After some time in the making, the Source Mage Cauldron team would like to present you with the 0.10.0 stable ISO image. This is the latest stable ISO image release for installing Source Mage GNU/Linux. A short list of the major improvements: updated kernel (2.6.27.10), better support for newer hardware; use of udev during boot enables automatic hardware probing and detection; new text-only installer interface; LVM and RAID support; documentation for all ISO packages available during the install; fast installation. Also in the works is an x86_64 edition which will hopefully keep in parallel with the x86 one." See the release announcement and release notes for more details. Download: smgl-0.10.0.iso.bz2 (291MB, MD5).

Andrew Fife has announced the release of Untangle Gateway 6.2.0, a specialist, Debian-based distribution for firewalls and routers: "We are pleased to announce that Untangle Gateway 6.2 is now available for download. Highlights of the release are our new multiWAN services: WAN Balancer and WAN Failover. Also included in this release is Ad Blocker, for filtering out banner advertisements. WAN Balancer allows companies to easily split traffic across up to six separate Internet connections. The traffic is spread based on user-specified weightings, ensuring less contention and higher performance. WAN Failover allows companies to prevent network downtime caused by their Internet Service Provider (ISP)." Read the rest of the release announcement for further information. Download: untangle_620.iso (474MB, MD5).

Paul Sherman has released Absolute Linux 12.2.5, a lightweight desktop distribution based on Slackware's "current" branch: "Absolute Linux 12.2.5 released. New Linux kernel, new package format, new Python. Every single package has been at least re-packed, modified or updated. Interface updated along with Linux kernel, Python, packaging system which is now TXZ and, due to higher compression, the main release contains much more than previously: OpenOffice.org and Java, as well as many other applications, now fit on a single CD. PCMan file manager and Rox have both been modified to work seamlessly with the TXZ package archives, as well as the new 'Add/Remove Programs' item in root menu. New volume control (now in system tray). New theme, more complete file type handling." Visit the project's home page to read the brief release announcement. Download: absolute-12.2.5.iso (685MB).

Point Clark Networks has announced the availability of first release candidate for ClarkConnect 5.0, a specialist firewall and gateway distribution based on CentOS: "ClarkConnect 5.0 release candidate 1 is now available. What's new? For new installations, ClarkConnect 5.0 is close to final-release quality. There are a number of known issues that need to be addressed; notably, the LDAP/Samba initialization is still fragile. There are literally a couple of dozen steps performed to initialize LDAP/Samba and ClarkConnect needs to handle the scenarios where any of the steps fail. We are not quite there yet! For upgrades, this release should be considered beta quality and not as thoroughly tested. Known issues: Samba/LDAP initialization is fragile; starting the CUPS print server for the first time will hang Webconfig; remote backup is not working (the remote side is a work in progress)." Read the rest of the release notes for further details. Download: community-5.0-rc1.iso (589MB, MD5).

Alexander Tratsevskiy has announced the release of Calculate Linux Desktop 9.6 "Xfce" edition, the first version of the Gentoo-based distribution with the Xfce environment: "The main differences: The system is optimized to work on slower computers; the size of the image stored on a CD; instead, the graphic library Qt uses GTK+; Because of limitations in the amount of the image, removed Portage and sources kernel. Features: the system is fully compatible with the Calculate Directory Server; CLDX users can work with CLD 9.6, save the settings for desktop in different directory; Xfce interface is made in traditional style Calculate Linux Desktop; supports seven languages: Russian, English, German, Portuguese, Spanish, French and Ukrainian; supports installation on the HDD and USB-HDD file system: ext4, ext3, ext2, ReiserFS, JFS or XFS." Here is the brief release announcement; see also the package list and screenshots. Download: cldx-9.6-i686.iso (695MB, MD5 and SHA1).

Luciano Martini has released the second beta version of Resulinux 3.0, a Brazilian desktop Linux distribution featuring the latest KDE 4 desktop. What's new? Fixed bug with GParted not starting up during system installation; fixed bug with non-functional wireless networking; system now uses NetworkManager for managing networks; applied workaround to a KDE bug that froze the system when opening some applications as root; applied workaround to permission changes to KDialog when run as root; new guide showing how to create icons on the KDE desktop; applied workaround to a bug in KMenuEdit; updated Java from 'Squeeze' repository; updated Shockwave Flash from 'Lenny' repository; fixed bug in Remastersys. Please see the release announcement (in Portuguese) for more information. Download: resulinux3.0beta2.iso (1,007MB, MD5, torrent).

The Hymera desktop team has announced the release of Hymera 20090601, a new Italian desktop Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux: "Hymera Open 20090601 has been released for download. The most important changes and improvements are as follows: new Linux kernel 2.6.29.3; new modules for identifying graphics cards and wireless network cards; fixed bug in Hymera video switch; fixed bug GNOME settings daemon; latest ATI and NVIDIA drivers; update of open-source ATI drivers; update of open-source NVIDIA drivers; default file system - ext4; improved system's boot speed." Visit the distribution's Download (MD5) the installable live DVD image from here: Hymera-Open-20090601.iso (2,931MB).

Linux Caixa Mágica 14, a Portuguese desktop and server distribution based on Mandriva Linux, has been released. According to the release announcement, Linux Caixa Mágica is the most widely used Linux distribution in Portugal, often deployed in offices and schools around the country. The latest release features: support for proprietary video drivers by ATI and NVIDIA; support for suspend-to-RAM on notebooks; improved support for modern wireless network cards and printers; over 20,000 software packages in the distribution's repositories, installable with APT for RPM or Synaptic package managers. Main components: Linux kernel 2.6.29, X.Org Server 1.6.1, KDE 4.2.2, GNOME 2.26.1, OpenOffice.org 3.0.1, Firefox 3.0.10. Please read the rest of the release announcement (in Portuguese) for further details and a screenshot of the Caixa Mágica desktop. Download the installation DVD from the distribution's FTP server: caixamagica-linux-download-14-dvd-i586.iso (4,406MB, MD5), caixamagica-linux-download-14-dvd-x86_64.iso (4,407MB, MD5).

Samuel Baggen has released a new development build of Elive, a Debian-based distribution and live CD featuring the latest Enlightenment 17: "The Elive Team is proud to announce the release of the development version 1.9.28. What's new? Partitions - better detection and listing of the partitions for the live mode and the installer, if you encounter any problems, please report it; RAID - now the fake-hardware (featured by the motherboard BIOS) RAID disks are supported, a small help about RAID (software mode) is added to the installer describing how to install Elive on RAID devices; MacBooks - we have switched from LILO to GRUB, in the previous versions of Elive you saw that sometimes the system didn't boot anymore after running the fine-tune step because of some problems with LILO; Installer - the development is now all concentrated on the installer, with a large number of minor bug fixes and features." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: elive_1.9.28_unstable.iso (684MB, MD5).

OpenSolaris 2009.06 has been released: "Today marks the release of OpenSolaris 2009.06, the third release of the OpenSolaris operating system. We've shifted gear, bringing you a new set of features right to your door, from the desktop to the data center. New features: network virtualization with Crossbow; turn any host into a SCSI target with COMSTAR; host virtual guests using xVM Hypervisor or LDoms; SPARC support for Distro Constructor, Auto Install, and Snap; Intel Xeon 5500 processor support with deep power management; MySQL and PHP DTrace probes in the WebStack; improved usability of the package management system; ZFS Time Slider snapshot management; contribute new applications with SourceJuicer; Get 24/7 support with OpenSolaris subscriptions." See the release announcement and release notes, and visit the what's new page for further information. Download: osol-0906-x86.iso (677MB, MD5, torrent).

Truong Nguyen Quang has announced the release of Hacao Linux 4.21, a beginner-friendly, Vietnamese desktop Linux distribution based on Puppy Linux and supporting Intel Classmate PC and other low-cost portable computers. This version is based on the recently released Puppy Linux 4.2.1, but has been modified to include full support for Vietnamese and other enhancements designed for the local market. The release comes in two editions - the 120 MB "Standard" edition includes Unicode support, Unikey, Font and Stardict, while the 319 MB "Pro" edition also contains OpenOffice.org 3.0.1, a Vietnamese spell-checking utility, Skype with video support, the GIMP image manipulation program, WINE for running Windows software, and other popular software applications. Read the detailed release announcement (in Vietnamese) for further information and a handful of screenshots. Download one of the two available Hacao Linux editions from here: Hacao421.iso (120MB, MD5), Hacao421Pro.iso (319MB, MD5).

Astaro has announced the availability of the beta release of Astaro Security Gateway 7.5: "I am pleased to announce that the beta for the next big release of Astaro Security Gateway (7.500) is now available. This release includes exiting new things that were posted, submitted, and/or reviewed by you, our partners and end users via our new feature request portal. This beta will last approximately four weeks, with the GA version roadmapped for the beginning of July. What's new in ASG 7.500? New version of the IPS engine; intrusion protection performance scales massively when used with multi-core CPUs; real-time bandwidth monitor - new interface utilization bars on dashboard (setup scale via QOS); extended network security reporting - detailed packet filter and firewall reports, detailed IM/P2P reports...." Read the rest of the release announcement for a detailed list of most important changes. Download: asg-7.450-090529-2.iso (502MB, MD5).

Alexander Tratsevskiy has announced the release of Calculate Linux Desktop 9.6 "KDE" edition, a Gentoo-based distribution for the desktop: "Calculate Linux Desktop 9.6 KDE released. This is an anniversary version of Calculate Linux Desktop, the first version of which was released exactly 2 years ago. The main changes: to boot from the DVD using isolinux; added a choice of keyboard layout when booting from the DVD; graphical network configuration tool wicd has been added; the setting of video card during download from DVD has been made through the X.Org video drivers; the installation image will not be distributed, the system can be updated without recording to DVD; improved the support for booting from USB DVD. Main components: Linux kernel 2.6.28.10, X.Org 7.4, KDE 4.2.3, OpenOffice.org 3.0.1." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: cld-9.6-i686.iso (1,444MB, MD5), cld-9.6-x86_64.iso (1,515MB, MD5).

Roberto J. Dohnert has announced the release of PC/OS 10 "Open64 Workstation" edition, a desktop distribution based on Ubuntu 9.04 and designed for 64-bit workstations: "Today we are pleased to announce the availability of PC/OS Open64 Workstation 10. This release targets specifically 64-bit hardware systems. It is based on the Ubuntu 9.04 base system and has been updated with all the security and bug patches as of May 25, 2009. Some of the new features include: Xfce 4.6, OpenOffice.org 3.1, Qt 4, MonoDevelop, VLC, Exaile, Sun Java, 64-bit Flash plugin; multimedia and development tools and libraries; all multimedia codecs. Known issues: no usplash; on the live DVD the panel launchers do not work, this is due to Xfce including a working directory structure to panel launchers." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details. Download: pc-os-open64wstation.iso (1,789MB, MD5).

The first alpha release of Pardus Linux 2009, an independently developed desktop distribution with a custom package manager and desktop administration utilities, is now available for download: "The first alpha of Pardus Linux 2009 has been released by the Pardus community. Pardus 2009 alpha is a preview of the next version of the Pardus Linux distribution. The new Pardus Linux 2009 comes with KDE 4 desktop, improved driver support and new ext4 file system. Highlights: KDE desktop 4.2.3; Linux kernel 2.6.30-rc7; OpenOffice.org office suite 3.1rc6; Mozilla Firefox browser 3.5beta4; GIMP 2.6.6; X.Org Server 1.6.2pre; Python 2.6.2; GCC 4.3.3; glibc 2.9. Known bugs: Packages installation starts slowly on the CD installation; Kaptan starts with English language even if another language is selected." Here is the release announcement (in Turkish), with the translation of the main points in this post at Pardus Worldforum. Get the installation CD image from here: Pardus_2009_Alpha.iso (698MB, MD5, torrent).

Karanbir Singh has announced the release of a live CD edition of CentOS 5.3, a distribution built from source packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux: "The CentOS development team is pleased to announce the availability of CentOS 5.3 i386 live CD. This CD is based on our CentOS 5.3 i386 distribution. It can be used as a Workstation, with the following software: OpenOffice.org 2.3.0, Firefox 3.0.6, Thunderbird 2.0.0.18, Pidgin 2.5.5, XChat 2.6.6, GIMP 2.2.13. It can also be used as a rescue CD with the following tools: Memtest86+ 1.65, full set of LVM and RAID command line tools, Nmap and NMapFE, Traceroute, Samba 3.0.33 with CIFS kernel support to connect to Windows file shares, system log viewer, GUI hardware device manager. The following packages were removed to reach the 700 MB target: Emacs, K3b, Scribus." See the release announcement and release notes for more information. Download: CentOS-5.3-i386-LiveCD.iso (691MB, MD5).

Clement Lefebvre has announced the release of Linux Mint 7: "The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 7 'Gloria'. The 7th release of Linux Mint comes with numerous bug fixes and a lot of improvements. In particular the menu system, the application manager and the upload manager now provide new features such as 'Suggestions', 'Featured applications', 'SCP and SFTP support'. The underlying base of the operating system was also strengthened with a new adjustment mechanism which makes Linux Mint more robust and less vulnerable to Ubuntu package upgrades, and the introduction of virtual and meta packages which simplify upgrade paths and the installation of multiple desktop environments." Here is the full release announcement and features overview for a detailed list of new features and screenshot. Download (MD5) either the standard of the "Universal" edition (with extensive language support, but without proprietary drivers or media codecs): LinuxMint-7.iso (697MB, torrent), LinuxMint-7-Universal.iso (1,375MB, torrent).

Anil Gulecha has announced the release of Nexenta Core Platform 2.0, a base operating system combining the OpenSolaris kernel with Debian utilities and Ubuntu packages: "The Nexenta team would like to announce the immediate availability of the Nexenta Core Platform 2 release. Release highlights: OpenSolaris build 104+ with critical patches; over 13,000 packages in the repository; smooth upgrade path from NCP1; community-driven efforts bringing X.Org, Xfce and GNOME Core into the repository; based on Ubuntu 8.04 repository; this includes latest dpkg/APT, GCC, Binutils, Coreutils, Perl, Python, Ruby, Qt and GTK+ libraries; SMF support added for server applications like Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Exim; 100% native Debian environment, easy to upgrade, easy to use. Includes Vim and screen by default; addition of latest devzone version to the CD; includes apt-clone which brings ZFS power to apt-get." Here is the full release announcement. Download (MD5): nexenta-core-platform_2.0-b104_x86.iso.zip (506MB).

Warren Willson has announced the availability of a bug-fix update of Puppy Linux, version 4.2.1: "This is a bug-fix update for Puppy Linux 4.2 and includes very few changes from the original release except for the following: CUPS 1.3.10 regressed from 1.4b2 to resolve ongoing issues with CUPS printing; fixed printing from Geany, Leafpad and Gnumeric using CUPS 1.3.10; AbiWord 2.6.3 with 2.6.6 plugins has been patched for improved .doc and .docx support (Liberation TTF fonts required for some documents); Pwidgets updated to 2.0.8; Pcrypt updated to 17 May 2009 release and now requires Ccrypt to function. MIME-types updated in Rox 2.6.1; patches for GTK+ Xinput and b43 Broadcom network driver; Pmusic updated to 0.6.4; Pschedule updated to 0.7. This release marks the end of my obligations as project coordinator for the 4.2 series of Puppy Linux." Read the rest of the release announcement for additional details. Download: puppy-4.2.1-k2.6.25.16-seamonkey.iso (100MB, MD5).

Marco Ghirlanda has announced the release of ArtistX 0.7, an Ubuntu-based live DVD that turns a common computer into a full multimedia production studio: "ArtistX 0.7 is based on the Remastersys software for creating live CDs and includes the 2.6.27 Linux kernel, GNOME 2.24 and KDE 4.2, Compiz Fusion and about 2,500 free multimedia software packages, nearly everything that exists for the GNU/Linux operating system. Main features: based on Ubuntu 8.10 'Intrepid', Compiz Fusion for 3D desktop effects; most of Ubuntu multimedia packages; Ubiquity installer. A partial list of software included in the DVD: 2D graphics software - GIMP, Inkscape, Nip2, Krita, CinePaint, Synfig, Rawstudio, Skencil, Hugin; 3D graphics software - Blender, Wings3D, KPovModeler + POV-Ray 3.6, K3D; video software - Cinelerra, Kino, Open Movie Editor, Kdenlive, PiTiVi, Avidemux, DeVeDe...." Visit the project's home page to learn about the new release and to see hundreds of icons of free multimedia software projects. Download: artistx_0.7_live_dvd_iso_05_20_2009.iso (3,383MB, MD5, torrent).

Leszek Lesner has announced the availability of the first preview of ZevenOS 2.0, an Ubuntu-based GNU/Linux distribution aiming to provide a fast and easy-to-use desktop with BeOS-like user interface and support for older hardware: "We are proud to announce the release of ZevenOS 1.9, a preview release for version 2.0. The underlying system has been updated to Ubuntu 'Jaunty' (9.04) which brings speed improvements and new hardware support. A new bootsplash and wallpaper has been implemented through the help of the community. Our software has been updated to the latest versions, including an improved Deskbar, as well as MAGI 2, DiskManager and People. Our updated base system brings not only more speed but also updated applications which has fixed many bugs. But the new system brings also some regressions, like the Intel graphics card performance and stability issues." Read the full release announcement for further details. Download the live CD image via BitTorrent: ZevenOS-1.9-desktop-i386.iso (655MB).

Iuri Stanchev has announced the release of NetSecL 2.4, a hardened, security-oriented distribution based on Slackware Linux: "NetSecL 2.4 released. It's time for the new release and here are the main highlights: X.Org drivers updated to newest; X.Org autostart is now being delayed a few seconds so you could break if it is needed - mainly handy if you need to change the driver used; Metasploit is updated to its latest version; Ruby is re-included; a new kernel configuration with better support for SATA drives (IDE is still available as a module); new tools, like 0trace, Dmitry and Evilgrade included in the penetration package; Dazuko is removed and replaced by Dazuko_FS; the CruxPorts4Slack portage system was used for generating all packages tagged as NetSecL packages." Here is the brief release announcement. Download the installation CD from here: netsecl-2.4-install.iso (675MB, MD5).

The Linux Foundation has announced the release of a beta version of Moblin 2.0, a Fedora-based distribution for netbooks and other mobile devices: "The Moblin steering committee is happy to release the Moblin 2.0 beta for netbooks and nettops for developer testing. With this release, developers can begin to experience and work with the source code of the visually rich, interactive user interface designed for Intel Atom-based netbooks. Feature summary: new, visually rich user experience; the m_zone, acting as the 'home screen' panel; aggregation of your social networking content; a web browser optimized for the Moblin 2.0 netbook user interface; a 'zoomable' media player; a user interface for connection management and an updated connection manager (ConnMan); support for Linux desktop applications." Read the rest of the release announcement for additional details. Download: moblin-netbook-ux-beta-20090518-004.img (666MB, MD5, torrent).

Marcos Guglielmetti has announced that the first beta release of Musix GNU/Linux 2.0 is now ready for testing: "We have released a new version of the 100% free operating system for musicians, graphic designers, video makers, artists and all kinds of users. This remastered version aims to provide a testing system based on the stable Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 'Lenny'. Several packages were updated, such as the Linux 'libre' kernels 2.6.27 and 2.6.29, which were revised to improve mount actions. It includes new versions of programs for musicians compiled by Spanish guitarist Carlos Pino - Ardor 2.8, jackd 0.116.1, lmms-vst 0.4.4, lv2core 3.0, Qtractor 0.4.1, Rosegarden 1.7.3... As a new addition, we added GNOME to the supported desktops - KDE, LXDE and IceWM + Rox." Read the complete release announcement for more information. Download the live DVD image from here: Musix-2-0-Beta1_dvd.iso (2,072MB, MD5).

Red Hat, Inc. has announced the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 4.8, the latest update of the company's legacy series of enterprise-class operating systems: "Today we released the eighth update to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, marking the next step in the product's seven-year life cycle. RHEL 4, first shipped in February 2005, is now in the Production 2 life cycle phase. With this, the focus of product updates in the future will shift away from providing significant code changes and focus on providing critical fixes and helping customers evolve their IT plans for eventual migration to RHEL 5. Key features in RHEL 4.8 include: improved virtualization performance and scale; Improved Windows interoperability and file system support; general performance improvements; storage and file system enhancements...." Read the rest of the press release for further details. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.8 is available to existing Red Hat customers via the usual update mechanisms or as a set of ISO images from Red Hat Networks.

Og Maciel has announced the release of Foresight Linux 2.1.1, an rPath-based distribution featuring the latest GNOME desktop and other GNOME technologies: "It is with great pleasure that I announce the release of Foresight Linux 2.1.1. Well-known for being a desktop operating system featuring an intuitive user interface and a showcase of the latest desktop software, this new release brings you the latest GNOME 2.26.1 release, a newer Linux kernel 2.6.29, a revamped notification area, and a ton of X.Org improvements! GNOME 2.26 features improvements to file sharing, better support for multiple monitors and projectors, integration with fingerprint readers and many more updates. The distribution includes a new Linux kernel, 2.6.29.2, which adds support for WiMAX and new wireless drivers such as Ralink rt2860/70." Read the rest of the release announcement and release notes for more information. Download (SHA1): foresight-2.1.1-x86-dvd1.iso (1,365MB), foresight-2.1.1-x86_64-dvd1.iso (1,475MB).

Flavio Pereira de Oliveira has announced the availability of the first beta release of GoblinX "G:Standard", a Slackware-based live CD formerly known as GoblinX Standard: "The GoblinX project is proud to announce that G:Standard 3.0 beta 1 (2.9.90) is released. G:Standard is the original edition, first released at the end of October 2004, when it was called GoblinX and later GoblinX Standard. In order to dismiss doubts about the releases and follow the same criteria used for all editions of the GoblinX project, it has become G:Standard. In the past, GoblinX Standard included five window managers and also support for five languages, but G:Standard is now a KDE-only edition and, because of the limited space, it includes only the default English language." Read the full release announcement for further details. Download: g.Standard-2.9.80.iso (692MB, MD5).

Samuel Baggen has released a new development build of Elive, a Debian-based live CD featuring the Enlightenment 17 desktop. This version includes Compiz desktop effects. From the release announcement: "The Elive team is proud to announce the release of Elive development (Compiz) version 1.9.27. This is a major update for the Compiz series of Elive. Changes: instead of configuring Compiz from ECSM, you can now do it from a module; the cube is disabled by default due to its instability compared to the wall mode; not that the switcher (window switcher) of Compiz is ugly, but it's a bit annoying while the default switcher of E17 is a lot more powerful, configurable, and stable, so we use it as default now (it is still accessed by pressing the Win key plus the Tab key). Note: remember that these are the default configurations, you can change them to your taste!" Download the live CD from here: elive_1.9.27-compiz_unstable.iso (686MB, MD5).

Martin Pitt has announced the availability of the first alpha release of Ubuntu 9.10, code name "Karmic Koala": "Welcome to Karmic Koala Alpha 1, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.10. Development for Karmic just recently opened and many of the new features have not yet started to appear. Currently the changes include the synchronisation of packages from Debian Sid, a new kernel based on 2.6.30, and the latest development release of GNOME, 2.27.1. Other features: technology for power management and laptop Fn key maps was moved from hal to DeviceKit-power and udev-extras; new Intel video driver architecture available for testing; Karmic uses GCC 4.4 as the default compiler." Read the release announcement and release notes for further information. Only the "alternate" installation CDs are available for download: karmic-alternate-i386.iso (674MB, MD5, torrent), karmic-alternate-amd64.iso (674MB, MD5, torrent). Also released today: Kubuntu9.10 Alpha 1 and Xubuntu9.10 Alpha 1.

A new major version of Ekaaty Linux, a Brazilian desktop Linux distribution based on Fedora and featuring KDE 3.5.10, has been released. This is the project's most stable and polished release to-date, with many new features implemented during the past two years of development. Some of the most interesting among them include: Faster boot time - less than 30 seconds on conventional hardware; the ability to install audio and video codecs, as well as additional applications, during system installation; introduction of Secure Updates, a package update mechanism that prevents updates that could be harmful to the stability of the system; introduction of the MediaBox profile, with a suite of applications for editing audio, video and graphics files, e.g. Hydrogen, Audacity, Ardour, Rosegarden and others. Please see the release announcement and release notes (both links in Portuguese) for further details. Download the installation DVD image: kayowas-3r1-i386-dvd.iso (2,047MB, SHA1).

NetBSD developer Zafer Aydogan has announced the release of Jibbed 5.0, a live CD based on NetBSD 5.0. An announcement went out a few days ago, but now it has been updated to include information about new features: "Here we go again the with a new version of the NetBSD live CD. This time it's version 5.0, built from the finest NetBSD-5 sources. As usual, the live CD contains the latest packages from pkgsrc and three new packages: AbiWord and two fantastic games - Wormux and Crack Attack!. As always it contains X.Org from base and the Xfce window manager. Jibbed is a bootable live CD based on the NetBSD operating system that works directly from a CD without touching a hard drive. It provides automatic hardware detection and supports many graphics cards, sound cards and USB devices. It also features a rescue environment for NetBSD." Visit the project's home page to read the brief release announcement. Download (MD5): jibbed-5.0-i386-LiveCD.iso (489MB), jibbed-5.0-amd64-LiveCD.iso (530MB).

FranÃ§ois Dupoux has released SystemRescueCd 1.2.0, a Gentoo-based live CD with a collection of hard disk management and data rescue utilities: "SystemRescueCd 1.2.0 has just been released. It's a major release and it comes with a new kernel version, new desktop environment, and update for important packages. First, the graphical environment has been updated. It's now based on X.Org Server 1.5.3, which improves the hardware support and comes with new drivers. The desktop environment is now Xfce, because it's both very good (very comfortable, many settings) and very small. Parts of Xfce which are not essential and which have many dependencies have not been included. The kernel has been updated to version 2.6.29; it comes with more drivers and it also supports the very promising Btrfs file system (still under heavy development). GParted has been updated to 0.4.5." Read the complete release announcement to learn about other major changes in this release. Download: systemrescuecd-x86-1.2.0.iso (234MB, MD5).

Mehdi Magnon has announced the release of Sabily 9.04, an Ubuntu-based distribution containing a selection of Islamic software, including prayer times, a Quran study tool, Arabic learning software and a web content filtering utility: "The Sabily team is proud to announce the release of Sabily 9.04, code name 'Taibah'. Sabily is the new name of Ubuntu Muslim Edition. New in this release: hijra, a Hijri Islamic calendar tray applet; mus-haf Othman, Othman Quran browser which displays Quran text in Othmani script style; updated artwork; Thwab can now open Shamela books. Main features: WebStrict parental control tool; Zekr 0.7.2 (Quran study tool), able to play Quran recitations; prayer times applications - Minbar and Firefox Pray Times add-on; Thwab (encyclopaedia); full support for Arabic...." Read the remainder of the release announcement for further details. Download: sabily-9.04-desktop-i386-full.iso (1,394MB, torrent).

Miklós Vajna has announced the availability of the first pre-release of Frugalware Linux 1.1, a complete, general-purpose distribution designed for intermediate Linux users: "Frugalware Linux 1.1pre1 'Getorin' released. The Frugalware developer team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Frugalware 1.1pre1, the first technical preview of the upcoming 1.1 stable release.A short and incomplete list of changes since 1.0: The installer is built with debug support by default for the pre-releases to help bug reporters; major review in the documentation - numerous grammatical fixes and various extensions; package updates - Linux kernel 2.6.29.2 + fixes, GNOME 2.26, Mono 2.4, more than 800 other package updates, more than 70 new packages." Here is the brief release announcement. Interested beta testers can download the installation DVD image from here: frugalware-1.1pre1-i686-dvd1.iso (686MB, SHA1, torrent).

Pierrick Le Brun has announced the release of Zenwalk Live 6.0, a live CD edition of the popular Slackware-based distribution: "Zenwalk Live 6.0, the latest Zenwalk in a live CD format, is ready! Based on Zenwalk's current repository, Zenwalk live 6.0 is an almost perfect clone of the latest Zenwalk 6.0 with the addition of the latest security patches and bug fixes. Zenwalk Live 6.0 uses version 6.2.9 of the Linux-Live scripts and its kernel 2.6.28.7 is patched with Aufs, Squashfs and LZMA with sqlzma. Our native utilities, LiloFix and LiveClone, have been entirely rewritten in Glade/Python and new functionalities have been added to LiveClone. If you've just recently migrated to Linux, a beginner's guide will assist and guide you through all the basics." Read the rest of the release announcement for further information. Download: zenwalk-live-6.0.iso (686MB, MD5).

Patrick Verner has released Parted Magic 4.1, a specialist live CD containing a collection of software for managing hard disks: "This version of Parted Magic fixes some bugs and adds some new features and programs. There was a scripting error that caused DEB packages not to load in some situations, mkfstab was moved later in the booting process to stop the new fstab from being overwritten by the one from the 'Save Session' package, and 'partimag' user was added by default for PartImage. The fstab daemon now detects device mapper RAID partitions while removing the unmountable mirrors from /etc/fstab. GParted and mount-gtk correctly display and mount these partitions. Added support for new package extensions .tbz, tlz, txz. Numlock is set to 'on' in and outside of X by default." Read the rest of the release announcement for additional details. Download: pmagic-4.1.iso.zip (88.4MB, MD5).

Point Clark Networks has announced the availability of the third beta release of ClarkConnect 5.0, a specialist, CentOS-based distribution for firewalls and gateways: "ClarkConnect 5.0 Beta 3 is now available. What's new? A significant number of bug fixes are included in beta 3 and the number of open issues is shrinking fast. The known issues section provides more information. You should also note that a bare minimum of software modules are installed in beta 3 (Samba is one exception). You will need to install additional modules via the web-based interface -- go to Services - Software Modules in the menu. Known issues: the IP settings for the LAN interface specified in the installer might be overwritten at boot time; Samba initialization is fragile, but should be working; IPsec VPN might not work in some cases...." Read the detailed release notes for further information. Download: community-5.0-beta3.iso (607MB, MD5).

A. J. Venter has announced the availability of Kongoni GNU/Linux 1.12.2 Alpha, a Slackware-based desktop distribution using KDE 4: "The Kongoni project is proud to announce the availability of an alpha release of version 1.12.2. Kongoni is a desktop-focused GNU/Linux distribution with significant inspiration from the BSD UNIX systems. It is based on Slackware Linux 12.2 with the latest upstream patches and also features KDE 4.2.2 and the latest stable releases of most common desktop applications such, as OpenOffice.org. This release includes the first versions of several Kongoni-specific tools, including Ports Installation GUI (PIG), which provides a simple graphical tool for installing, managing and even creating software ports, and Kongoni Instant Setup System (KISS), which provides a simple and highly extensible interface for common configuration tasks." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download: kongoni32.1_12_2_alpha.iso (652MB, torrent), kongoni64.1_12_2_alpha.iso (694MB, torrent).

Stephan Rickauer has announced the release of BSDanywhere 4.5, a live CD consisting of a base OpenBSD system plus a graphical desktop (Enlightenment 17): "We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of BSDanywhere 4.5 - Enlightenment at your fingertips. Here's a quick summary of the changes since 4.4: Upgrade base system to OpenBSD 4.5 and packages accordingly, please see the OpenBSD site for a list of changes since 4.4; contains official, standard, unmodified OpenBSD kernel - previously, we had to ship a slightly modified version of the OpenBSD kernel to make the boot off CD media less cumbersome, but thanks to OpenBSD developer Kenneth Westerback, this has been improved in OpenBSD 4.5; last but not least, we have great new artwork, provided graciously by Tim Saueressig." Here is the complete release announcement. Download (SHA256): bsdanywhere45-i386.iso (628MB), bsdanywhere45-amd64.iso (699MB).

Canaima GNU/Linux is a Debian-based desktop distribution created mainly for use in Venezuela's government departments, but also available to general public as a desktop operating system. Version 2.0.1 was released yesterday. Some of its characteristics include: Modified bootsplash and desktop theme with Canaima artwork and logos; inclusion of OpenOffice.org 3.0.1 with a Spanish (Venezuela) dictionary; additional Impress templates and support for extended picture gallery; addition of OpenOffice.org Presenter; addition of XChat, a software package facilitating access to the distribution's IRC channel; updates to Freemind, an application for creating mind maps; update to OpenProj, project management software; update to the Pidgin instant messenger; update to Firefox 3.0.10 with support for Flash and GStreamer plugins. Please read the release announcement and release notes (both links in Spanish) for further details. Download (MD5) the installation DVD image from here: canaima-2.0.1-DVD-i386.iso (1,337MB, MD5).

Clement Lefebvre has announced the availability of the first release candidate for Linux Mint 7, code name "Gloria": "The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 7 RC1 'Gloria'. The 7th release of Linux Mint comes with numerous bug fixes and a lot of improvements. In particular, the menu system, the application manager and the upload manager now provide new features, such as 'Suggestions', 'Featured applications', 'SCP and SFTP support'. The underlying base of the operating system was also strengthened with a new adjustment mechanism which makes Linux Mint more robust and less vulnerable to Ubuntu package upgrades, and the introduction of virtual and meta packages which simplify upgrade paths and the installation of multiple desktop environments." Read the rest of the release announcement for information about system requirements and how to report bugs. Download (MD5) the installable live CD image from here: LinuxMint-7-RC1.iso (686MB, torrent).

Anil Gulecha has announced the availability of the second release candidate for Nexenta Core Platform 2.0, a minimalist operating system combining the OpenSolaris kernel with Debian utilities and Ubuntu software packages: "This is to announce availability of Nexenta Core Platform (NCP) 2.0 RC2. This release will become the final release if no major bugs are reported. Highlights: OpenSolaris build 104+ with critical patches; over 13,000 packages in the repository; smooth upgrade path from NCP1; community efforts bringing X.Org, Xfce and GNOME Core into the repository; based on Ubuntu 8.04 repository. Related news: StormOS, an Xfce-based derivative of NCP2, is in the works. For those looking for a desktop variation of NCP2, keep a lookout on the StormOS web site. The beta release of StormOS is in the offing." Here is the brief release announcement. Download (MD5): nexenta-core-platform_2.0-rc2_x86.iso.zip (507MB).

Ken Smith has announced the release of FreeBSD 7.2: "The FreeBSD Release Engineering team is pleased to announce the availability of FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE. This is the third release from the 7-STABLE branch which improves on the functionality of FreeBSD 7.1 and introduces some new features. Some of the highlights: support for fully transparent use of superpages for application memory; support for multiple IPv4 and IPv6 addresses for jails; csup(1) now supports CVSMode to fetch a complete CVS repository; GNOME updated to 2.26, KDE updated to 4.2.2; sparc64 now supports UltraSparc-III processors. FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE is now available for the amd64, i386, ia64, pc98, powerpc, and sparc64 architectures." Read the release announcement and release notes for a detailed list of changes. Download: 7.2-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso.gz (1,946MB, MD5, torrent), 7.2-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso.gz (2.009MB, MD5, torrent).

Jani Monoses has announced the release of Kiwi Linux 9.04, an Ubuntu-based distribution enhanced with some non-free components and optimised for Romanian and Hungarian users: "Kiwi Linux 9.04 is a desktop distribution based on Ubuntu 9.04 for the i386 architecture. Differences from Ubuntu 9.04: the supported languages on the CD are English, Hungarian and Romanian; GUI for pppoeconf and support for Speedtouch 330 USB ADSL modem firmware; a graphical tool for restoring GRUB boot menus lost after installing other operating systems; Evolution removed, no mail client at all on the CD; Flash plugin and GStreamer codecs for restricted audio and video formats; encrypted DVD playback via libdvdcss2; Compiz extra settings GUI; p7zip, unrar. The Medibuntu repositories are enabled by default to allow installing w32codecs, Skype and Google Earth, among others." Here are the brief release notes. Download (MD5): kiwilinux-9.04.iso (697MB, torrent).

Theo de Raadt has announced the release of OpenBSD 4.5: "We are pleased to announce the official release of OpenBSD 4.5. This is our 25th release on CD-ROM (and 26th via FTP). As in our previous releases, 4.5 provides significant improvements, including new features, in nearly all areas of the system: Initial ports to the xscale-based gumstix platform and the ARM-based OpenMoko; improved hardware support and several new or improved drivers for sensors; new tools - ypldap, an YP server using LDAP as a backend; malloc has gained new attack mitigation measures; install now allows multiple interfaces to be configured with DHCP; OpenSSH 5.2; over 5,500 ports, minor robustness improvements in package tools; major components - Xenocara (based on X.Org 7.4), GCC 2.95.3 and 3.3.5, Perl 5.10.0; our improved and secured version of Apache 1.3, with SSL/TLS...." Read the rest of the release announcement for a detailed list of all changes and improvements. Download: i386/install45.iso (229MB, MD5), amd64/install45.iso (251MB, MD5, torrent).

Matthew Dillon has announced the release of DragonFly BSD 2.2.1, a BSD operating system originally forked from FreeBSD 4: "The new 2.2 release includes Hammer, a file system that includes instant crash recovery, multi-volume file systems, data integrity checking, fine grained history retention, and the ability to mirror data to other volumes. It has undergone extensive stress-testing and is considered production-ready!" Other changes include: "Fixes for libthread_xu: MAP_STACK and an errno leak; fixed an installworld failure due to kernel fixes and a libthread_xu issue; installer now works correctly in the console, and properly creates device files if they don't exist; updates for msdosfs, pax(1), and magic(3); allowed uid/gid/flags changes to fail if running cpdup as a user...." Read the full release notes for additional details. Download (MD5): dfly-2.2.1_REL.iso.gz (184MB), dfly-gui-2.2.1_REL.iso.gz (516MB).

The NetBSD project has announced the release of NetBSD 5.0: "The NetBSD project is pleased to announce that NetBSD 5.0, the thirteenth release of the NetBSD operating system, is now available. NetBSD 5.0 features greatly improved performance and scalability on modern multiprocessor (SMP) and multi-core systems. In addition to scalability and performance improvements, a significant number of major features have been added. Some highlights are: a preview of metadata journaling for FFS file systems (known as WAPBL), the jemalloc memory allocator, X.Org instead of XFree86 on a number of ports, the Power Management Framework, ACPI suspend/resume support on many laptops, write support for UDF file systems...." See the release announcement and release notes for a full list of changes and new features. Installation CD images for 42 processor architectures are available from NetBSD's main FTP server and its mirrors; quick links to the i386 and amd64 CD images: i386cd-5.0.iso (229MB, MD5, torrent), amd64cd-5.0.iso (242MB, MD5, torrent).

Mandriva Linux 2009.1 has been released: "Mandriva announces today the launch of the final version of Mandriva Linux 2009.1. Quicker, easier and even more secure, this new version brings you a host of innovative features. Main components: KDE 4.2.2, GNOME 2.26, X.Org Server 1.6, Linux kernel 2.6.29, Xfce 4.6. Mandriva Linux 2009.1 comes with a big improvement in boot time and the Mandriva Control Center tools have been also optimized. Network center is now supporting advanced network configuration, together with additional pre-configured Internet providers, integration with new network devices and support for different wireless regulatory domains. The Mandriva security framework, msec, has been also redesigned. The ext4 file system is now supported in stable version and available during installation." Read the release announcement, product overview and release notes for further details. Quick download links to the installable "One" live CDs and the "Free" installation DVDs: mandriva-one-2009.1-KDE4-i586.iso (686MB, MD5, torrent), mandriva-one-2009.1-GNOME-i586.iso (682MB, MD5, torrent), mandriva-linux-free-2009.1-i586.iso (4,452MB, MD5, torrent), mandriva-linux-free-2009.1-x86_64.iso (4,458MB, MD5, torrent).

Samuel Baggen has released a new development build of Elive, a Debian-based distribution featuring the latest Enlightenment 17 desktop: "The Elive team is proud to announce the release of the development version 1.9.26. Changes: NVIDIA and ATI - when you upgrade the kernel package and modules, you will broke your NVIDIA/ATI drivers except if you update or install or remove any requirement manually, this problem is solved in this version by holding ALL the kernel and driver packages (and GLX packages); accelerated boot - a bit more accelerated boot of the live system by sorting the files of the file system in the CD-ROM structure by their access order; practical things - convert any audio file to MP3 or OGG format by right-clicking on them in the file manager." Read the rest of the release announcement for further information. Download: elive_1.9.26_unstable.iso (682MB, MD5).

Daisuke Suzuki has announced the availability of the first alpha build of Vine Linux 5.0, a general-purpose distribution designed primarily for Japanese-speaking users. This early alpha release may contain bugs and, as such, it is recommended that only experienced developers and beta testers install the operating system. Its APT update mechanism points to Vine Seed, the distribution's development tree, so installed systems can be continuously updated to follow the development cycle. Known issues: some video cards using ATI Mobility Radeon M6 might not work correctly; the nv driver fails during the installation process. The distribution is based on Linux kernel 2.6.27, with glibc 2.8, GCC 4.1.2, X.Org Server 1.6.1 and GNOME 2.26. Visit the project's beta page (in Japanese) to read the complete release notes. Download the installation CD from here: Vine49-alpha-i386-20090427.iso (669MB, SHA1).

Joern Lindau has released a new version of Toorox, an i686-optimised, Gentoo-based live DVD which boots into a KDE desktop using KNOPPIX hardware auto-detection and auto-configuration technologies: "A new release of Toorox is done and available in the download section. Now you can simply make a live USB pen drive with it. The KDE was updated to 4.2.2 and OpenOffice.org speaks German and English. There are no significant changes to the prior version except package updates and small bug fixes. Changes: contains Iceweasel 3.0.9 web browser; the Windows emulator WINE was updated to 1.1.19; VLC media player 0.99a; Clam antivirus 0.95.1." Read the complete release announcement to learn more about Toorox. Download the live DVD image from here: Toorox_04.2009.iso (1,761MB).

Warren Woodford has announced the release of SimplyMEPIS 8.0.06, a minor update of the project's recently released version 8 "MEPIS LLC has released SimplyMEPIS 8.0.06, an update to the community edition of MEPIS 8.0. SimplyMEPIS 8.0 uses a Debian Lenny stable foundation enhanced with a long-term support kernel, key package upgrades, and the MEPIS Assistant applications to create an up-to-date, ready to use desktop computer system. The updated components on the SimplyMEPIS ISOs include recent updates from the Debian 'Lenny' pool and also Linux kernel 2.6.27.21, Firefox 3.0.9, JBidwatcher 2.0.1 and Gutenprint 5.2.3. In addition, some minor tweaks have been applied to the MEPIS installer and the MEPIS utilities. Recently, the MEPIS package pool has received new updates for Thunderbird 2.0.0.19, Shorewall 4.2.6, TightVNC 1.3.9, Openswan 2.6.20, QEMU 0.10.2 and Webmin 1.460." Read the brief release announcement for further details. Download: SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.0.06-rel_32.iso (673MB, MD5), SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.0.06-rel_64.iso (668MB, MD5).

Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 4.7, a live, Debian-based web kiosk designed for deployments in places like offices or Internet cafés where only web applications are used. What's new? "Added iptables firewall; fixed UA string for Hotmail; file:/// disabled in the latest kiosk extension; removed previous wireless default to join any open network; Iceweasel 3.0.9; CUPS printing support re-instated with a firewall rule to allow for printer sharing broadcasts; Linux kernel 2.6.29 backport, which means even better hardware support; Xpdf dropped in favour of a working printing dialog with Acrobat Reader - there are some embedding issues when you first run it, [Ctrl+q] is needed to close the PDF viewer. Known issues: spelling language has to be manually chosen and doesn't respect chosen locale boot options; the Debian installer which only worked on the ISO version is temporarily disabled until the Debian installer uses 2.6.29 which supports Squashfs 4...." See the full release notes for more information. Download: webc-4.7.iso (255MB, MD5).

Carlos La Borde has announced the release of iMagic OS 2009.5, a commercial desktop Linux distribution based on Ubuntu: "The new iMagic OS has arrived. With a newly retouched interface, intuitive first-run wizard, multiple problems patched, much better integration with magicOnline (a new tool that allows you to install hundreds of programs with just one click) v2, included MP3 decoding, upgraded programs, enhanced multimedia programs including Exaile and Cinelerra, instant desktop search with Google Desktop, better Photo management with magicPhoto and Picasa, better Microsoft compatibility, magicEssentials (a suite of six desktop applications created by iMagic OS), and magicGuide (created with the beginning Linux user in mind), to give your computer the power it needs to do what you want it to do and a whole lot more." Read the complete release announcement for further details. iMagic OS 2009.5 is available for purchase from the project's online store (US$79.99).

Ken Smith has announced the availability of the second release candidate for FreeBSD 7.2: "The second of the two planed release candidates for the 7.2-RELEASE cycle is now available. We believe, with the exception of the new bce(4) driver not working with lagg(4), all the major issues that have come up from the testing have been addressed. We will work with the vendor to get that issue addressed post-release. There is one known issue with 7.2-RC2. We switched from KDE3 to KDE4 and during my tests done before uploading the images, a problem with package dependencies for KDE4 was discovered. The kdemultimedia4 package has audio/lame as a runtime dependency but that package cannot be pre-built due to licensing issues. So the install of kdemultimedia4 fails if you choose to install kde4. The ports folks have been notified and will make the necessary adjustments before the final release." Read the complete release announcement for further details. Download: 7.2-RC2-i386-dvd1.iso.gz (1,928MB, MD5), 7.2-RC2-amd64-dvd1.iso.gz (2,009MB, MD5).

Joe Brockmeier has announced the start of a new development cycle for openSUSE - milestone 1 for the distribution's upcoming version 11.2 is now available for testing: "The first milestone release for openSUSE 11.2 is now ready for your testing pleasure. Please note that this is a milestone release. It's for openSUSE contributors who want to use the release for testing and development, but it is not for production use. What's new? Linux kernel 2.6.29, KDE 4.2.2, GNOME 2.26, Mono 2.4, OpenOffice.org 3.1 beta 4, Xfce 4.6, Samba 3.2.8. The live CDs now use LZMA compression and have German, French, Italian, Polish, and Russian translations. YaST's Qt package manager now has a configurable view layout, and Zypp's mirror handling should be more robust in this release. Ext4 is supported in this release, but not yet enabled for installation." Here is the full release announcement. Quick links to download the installable live CDs: openSUSE-KDE4-LiveCD-i686.iso (610MB, MD5, torrent), openSUSE-GNOME-LiveCD-i686.iso (653MB, MD5, torrent), openSUSE-KDE4-LiveCD-x86_64.iso (613MB, MD5, torrent), openSUSE-GNOME-LiveCD-x86_64.iso (648MB, MD5, torrent).

Linux Caixa Mágica is a Portuguese general-purpose distribution based on Mandriva Linux. The first release candidate of the upcoming version 14, scheduled for final release in the first half o May, was announced yesterday. The main features of this release include improved hardware detection and better usability, while the major software components of the release are Linux kernel 2.6.29, KDE 4.2.2 and GNOME 2.26. Also included are APT for RPM and Synaptic, developed by Caixa Mágica, featuring a "rollback" ability, recording of package installation failures, and communication with the central server. The announcement warns that it isn't possible to upgrade systems running older versions of Caixa Mágica, so those interested in helping to test the distribution should perform a clean installation. For more information please read the full release announcement (in Portuguese). The installation DVD images are available for download from here: caixamagica-linux-pro-14-dvd-i586-RC1.iso (4,440MB, MD5, torrent), caixamagica-linux-pro-14-dvd-x86_64-RC1.iso (4,120MB, MD5, torrent).

Next, it's the turn of Xubuntu 9.04, an Ubuntu variant featuring the Xfce desktop, which was also released today: "Xubuntu 9.04, code-named the 'Jaunty Jackalope', is the latest and greatest version of Xubuntu. It integrates the latest Xfce (4.6.0) desktop with the high-quality and feature-rich core of Ubuntu, resulting in a light-weight and easy-to-use Linux distribution. Highlights: faster boot times; a new Xfce Settings Manager dialog with better integration of each of the settings modules; a new configuration system - Xconf; a new desktop menu that follows the freedesktop.org menu standards; an upgraded notification-area; Gigolo, a new application to allow access to remote file systems; new Xubuntu artwork...." See the release announcement and release notes for upgrade instructions and other information. Download (MD5): xubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso (617MB, torrent), xubuntu-9.04-desktop-amd64.iso (632MB, torrent).

Mythbuntu 9.04, a distribution designed for home theatre systems and featuring MythTV, has been released: "After a long and exciting development cycle the Mythbuntu team is proud to introduce Mythbuntu 9.04. Features: Mythbuntu Log Grabber - this application grabs specific log files into a single area and can upload them to pastebin for easy troubleshooting; auto-partitioner creates separate partitions for root, recordings, and swap (ext3 and XFS); Mythbuntu Control Centre - used to modify settings on a Mythbuntu system that are not necessarily MythTV specific; MythTV 0.21-fixes20403 included; MythNetTV 7 (and GUI) are now packaged and available in the official repositories." Read the release announcement and release notes for further information, system requirements and known issues. Download (MD5): mythbuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso (615MB, torrent), mythbuntu-9.04-desktop-amd64.iso (652MB, torrent).

Jonathan Riddell has announced the release of Kubuntu 9.04, an Ubuntu variant featuring the latest KDE 4 desktop environment: "The Kubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Kubuntu 9.04, the Jaunty Jackalope! Kubuntu 9.04 includes an upgraded desktop containing many bug fixes, new configuration options, as well as many new and updated applications: KDE 4.2, containing many new features, including significant refinements of Plasma and KWin, the KDE workspace, many new and updated Plasma widgets, new and improved desktop effects (enabled by default), the return of the optional 'Classic Desktop' motif as an option; new in System Settings are tools for managing software and printer configuration; Quassel, a new IRC client; Amarok 2.0.2, KTorrent 3.2, Digikam 0.10.0...." See the rest of the release announcement for a more detailed overview of the release. Download (MD5): kubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso (696MB, torrent), kubuntu-9.04-desktop-amd64.iso (695MB, torrent).

Ubuntu 9.04 has been released: "The Ubuntu team is happy to bring you the latest and greatest software the Open Source community has to offer. This is their latest result, the Ubuntu 9.04 release, which brings a host of excellent new features. New features: Ubuntu 9.04 RC includes the latest GNOME 2.26 desktop environment with a number of great new features, including Brasero 2.26.0, an all-in-one CD burning application and the default disc burning utility in Nautilus, and improved handling of multiple monitors; X.Org server 1.6; Wacom tablet hotplugging; new style for notifications and notification preferences; significantly improved boot performance; Linux kernel 2.6.28; optional ext4 files system support...." Read the release announcement, release notes and feature overview for further information. Download (MD5): ubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso (699MB, torrent), ubuntu-9.04-desktop-amd64.iso (697MB, torrent).

Jon Ramvi has announced the release of Easy Peasy 1.1, an Ubuntu-based distribution optimised for the ASUS Eee PC and other netbooks: "We are proud to announce Easy Peasy 1.1! This is how the first Easy Peasy release really should be: No stupid bugs, no Ubuntu logos. You will be able to upgrade from tomorrow, but you can get the full ISO image today. A brand new look: new icon theme, a modified version of Victor Castillejos's GNOME Colors; new wallpaper which is part of the new visual profile (i.e. on Twitter); new splash screen and login screen. Fixed bugs: lots of bugs fixed; many upgrades, like Songbird and Flash." Here is the brief release announcement with a screenshot of the home desktop. Download: easypeasy-1.1.iso (913MB).

Kenneth Granerud has announced a new development release of Wolvix GNU/Linux 2.0.0, a Slackware-based desktop distribution and live CD: "It's time for another beta release, Wolvix 2.0.0 beta2 is now ready for download. The changes are mostly minor, but we've managed to weed out a few annoying bugs and quite a few packages have been updated and a few new applications have been added. Some of the changes from beta 1 include: dual menu entries for some applications have been fixed; the bottom panel has been cleaned up, the pager has been removed and the number of launchers has been reduced; SLiM (login manager) has been patched, so it should start faster now; an old bug in the WCP which didn't allow for files to be executed on a dedicated home partition has been fixed; the USB installer should be working properly now." For further information please consult the release announcement. Download: wolvix-2.0.0-beta2.iso (665MB, MD5).

Ken Smith has announced the availability of the first release candidate for FreeBSD 7.2: "The first of two planned release candidates for the FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE cycle is now available. Testing of some of the recent work would be particularly appreciated. This includes: bce(4) updated (there is a report that lagg(4) does not work after the update, fixing that may need to be done as an errata notice after the release); testing of the threading libraries; amr(4) should be fixed. A fix for the 'vm_page_insert: page already inserted' panics has been committed to RELENG_7_1 this morning so it missed the 7.2-RC1 builds. If you wind up being hit by that you can try a normal source based update to the current state of RELENG_7_1 and that problem should go away." Read the complete release announcement for more details. Download: 7.2-RC1-i386-dvd1.iso.gz (1,814MB, MD5), 7.2-RC1-amd64-dvd1.iso.gz (1,866MB, MD5).

Christophe Lincoln has released SliTaz GNU/Linux 2.0, a fast, independent mini-distribution and live CD: "SliTaz GNU/Linux 2.0 is released after a year of hard work. Based on version 1.0, SliTaz comprises of 1400 software packages easily installable via the 'tazpkg' package manager. The live CD can be fully configured to taste to easily create a custom distribution specifically for tasks such as multimedia, graphics or development. Some of the new features in this release include: better hardware support for WiFi, Windows drivers, NTFS and low memory systems; easier customization to roll your own distro; web boot support; Openbox replaces JWM as the window manager; more tiny graphical utilities for administration, setting preferences, system upgrade, etc. The distribution is available in English, German, French and Portuguese." Read the detailed release notes for further information. Download: slitaz-2.0.iso (29.7MB, MD5).

Soren Jacobsen has announced the availability of the fourth release candidate for NetBSD 5.0, a BSD operating system designed to run on a large number of processor architectures: "Today, we have two things to be happy about. First, the fourth release candidate of NetBSD 5.0 is available for download. Second, this announcement, like RC3's, coincides with an important birthday: that of Billy West. Below are some highlighted changes since RC3: added the RLIMIT_AS resource, which limits the total address space available to processes; improved NFS server stability; FFS improvements; a fix for a pf(4) DoS; re(4) now works with the RealTek 8111C, which is found on many current motherboards with Intel chipsets. As usual, src/doc/CHANGES-5.0 has the full details." Here is the brief release announcement. As usual, CD images for 41 processor architectures are available from NetBSD's FTP server and its mirrors. Two quick links to the i386 and amd64 installation CD images: i386cd.iso (229MB), amd64cd.iso (241MB).

The first release candidate for Canaima GNU/Linux 2.0.1 is now available for download. Canaima is a Venezuelan desktop Linux distribution designed primarily for the country's government and schools, based on Debian GNU/Linux. According to the release announcement, this is mostly a bug-fix and security update affecting around 400 upstream packages. These include some important upgrades to OpenOffice.org 3.0.1, Mozilla Firefox 3.0.8, Pidgin 2.5.5, FreeMind 0.8.1 and OpenProj 1.4 among others. Existing Canaima 2.0 installations can be upgraded with "aptitude". Testing will continue until 24 April and interested testers are invited to submit bug reports via the project's Trac infrastructure. For more information please see the release announcement and release notes (both links in Spanish). Download the installation DVD image from here: canaima-2.0.1-DVD-i386-RC1.iso (1,335MB, MD5).

Karl Goetz has announced the release of gNewSense 2.2, an Ubuntu-based, 100% free GNU/Linux distribution as defined by the Free Software Foundation (FSF): "The gNewSense project is pleased to announce version 2.2 of its 100% FSF Free GNU/Linux distribution. This is the second point update to the release code-named 'deltah'. This release introduces GLX back into the default install. This enables hardware acceleration by default, meaning Compiz and 3D games will work once again. Short list of changes: installer now supports two more file systems; GLX re-introduced; changed description of -updates and -backports in Software Sources; lsb_release output corrected; GNU Icecat repository available via Software Sources; Builder - substantial code restructuring...." See the rest of the release announcement for more information. Download the live CD image from here: gnewsense-livecd-deltah-i386-2.2.iso (621MB, MD5, torrent).

Fabio Erculiani has announced the release of Sabayon Linux 4.1 "GNOME" edition: "Dedicated to those who like order over chaos, to those who like simplicity over complexity, to those who think that less is more, to those that just want more for less. Sabayon 4.1, based on Sabayon 4 LiteMCE, represents the best of the out-of-the-box, GNOME, multimedia applications, and what you need for your daily tasks. Features: based on Sabayon Linux 4 LiteMCE; custom Linux kernel 2.6.29.1; ext4 is the default file system; complete GNOME 2.24 (2.26 available through Entropy); OpenOffice.org 3.0.1; Compiz and Compiz Fusion 0.8.2; X.Org 7.4 supporting the latest AMD and NVIDIA video cards; multimedia applications (audio, video, DVD ripping, file sharing); media center mode, transforming Sabayon into a complete multimedia platform thanks to XBMC...." Read the full release announcement for more details. Download: Sabayon_Linux_4.1_x86_G.iso (1,691MB, MD5, torrent), Sabayon_Linux_4.1_amd64_G.iso (1,789MB, MD5, torrent).

Renata Heleno has announced the release of Epidemic GNU/Linux 3.0, a Brazilian desktop distribution based on Debian's testing branch and featuring KDE 4. This is a major new release with the following enhancements: introduction of KDE 4.2.1 as the default desktop; integration of KDE's system settings into Epidemic's control panel; various improvements to Easy Channel, the distribution's graphical package installation tool; improved network configuration utility, Enetwork, with support for software modems; Ependrive, a new tool that allows users to save or discard changes made during a live USB drive session; a redesigned Einstaller with new functions, such as the ability to create a live USB media or an option to keep or discard changes made during the live DVD session. Please visit the distribution's home page (in Portuguese) to read the release announcement and to view some screenshots. Download (MD5): epidemic-3.0-1-i686.iso (1,438MB).

Manuel Kasper has released a new public beta build of m0n0wall 1.3, a FreeBSD-based firewall. What's new? "Opened firewall rules for link-local IPv6 addresses on optional and LAN interfaces; initial basic support for secondary IP addresses; added DHCPv6 support; added additional RA options for LAN and optional interfaces, required for DHCPv6; added all-servers option to dnsmasq and removed overlap check as having multiple nameservers per domain is a valid configuration; changed interface status page to list all IP addresses on an interface; allow RA support on WAN interface, and add feature to automatically suggest an IPv6 address for the LAN interface; added IPv6 support to mini_httpd (for the webGUI); allow IPv6 addresses for DNS servers on system: general setup page, and for hosts on the DNS forwarder setup page...." Visit the project's development page to read the complete changelog. Download (MD5): cdrom-1.3b16.iso (17.2MB).

Marcos Guglielmetti has announced the availability of the second alpha release of Musix GNU/Linux 2.0, a Debian-based live DVD with a collection of applications for media production: "The Musix GNU/Linux team has released the first Musix 2.0 live DVD which includes a huge list of packages along with several applications for graphic design, audio and music software. English, Spanish, Portuguese and French are fully supported. We have included two new realtime-patched Linux kernels: 2.6.27-free (which replaces the 2.6.26.8-libre2), with new modules and bug fixes, and the 2.6.24.7-rt-libre3 boot option for better hardware compatibility. The 2.6.29.1-libre-rt kernel is included on the DVD but it will work only on installed systems. Desktops: IceWM, LXDE and KDE 3.5.10." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: Musix-2_Alfa2_dvd.iso (1,720MB, MD5).

Andrew Fife has announced the release of Untangle Gateway 6.1.0, a specialist Debian-based distribution for firewalls and gateways: "Here at Untangle we are extremely pleased to announce that version 6.1 is now available for download. The highlight of the release is our new application, Commtouch Spam Booster, but there are several other significant upgrades and enhancements as well. Commtouch Spam Booster adds extra premium filters to spam blocker, claiming the detection rates of over 98% of spam while still maintaining industry's highest accuracy rates. The Untangle Platform also got a major upgrade; the biggest change was upgrading the kernel 2.6.26 and the installer, which is overall a nicer 'Welcome to Untangle' experience for newbies installing their first box. Additional enhancements: improvements to spam blocker and web filter; bug fixes." Read the full release announcement and changelog for further details. Download: untangle_610.iso (456MB, MD5).

Kris Moore has announced the release of PC-BSD 7.1, a desktop operating system based on FreeBSD 7.1: "iXsystems announced today the release of PC-BSD version 7.1. PC-BSD 7.1 is built upon the FreeBSD 7.1-STABLE operating system. It includes updated versions of KDE (4.2.2) and X.Org (7.4). The latest version of KDE includes new window effects, screen savers, and better 3D acceleration. PC-BSD 7.1 also features many improvements and bug fixes that enhance PC-BSD's general ease of use: the new KDE 4 printer applet enables users to easily add and manage printers and print jobs; the Add / Remove Programs tool and the Update Manager have been consolidated into Software & Updates; the Updater Tray has been modified into a small tray-only applet; FreeBSD ports and packages can now be created by using the runports command...." Read the press release, release notes and changelog for more details. Download (MD5): PCBSD7.1-x86-DVD.iso (1,858MB, MD5, torrent), PCBSD7.1-x64-DVD.iso (1,891MB, MD5, torrent).

David Cortarello has announced the release of Kwort Linux 2.4.1 a Slackware-based distribution with a custom package manager and other system administration utilities: "I'm happy to announce that Kwort 2.4.1 final is here! This version took a year to develop and provides many changes from the 2.4 release, including a new, more cleaned-up base system, whole new tool chain, new configuration tools and lots of new things. New features: Kwort's init system has evolved keeping its simplicity but providing some new features; Linux kernel 2.6.28.7 - a lot of hardware support was included; the new version of kpkg include several new features and the adoption of multi-mirror support; Kwort user manager provides a simple way to create and remove users with a new interface; Kwort network manager allows to configure the network and manage DNS; Xfce 4.6.0...." Read the complete release announcement for additional information. Download: kwort-2.4.1.1.iso (489MB, MD5).

Tomáš Matějíček has released Slax 6.1.0, a Slackware-based desktop live CD featuring the latest KDE 3.5 desktop. From the changelog: "This should be the last Slax 6.x, no more new features will be added to Slax 6.x, only bug fixes. Changes: added fake XDM to 002-xorg, so it will start Fluxbox if KDE is not present - this is mainly useful if you use 'build slax' and you only include Slax Core and Slax Xorg; upgraded to Slackware 'current' as of the latest changes before KDE 4 packages were added; added new wallpaper; fixed many Fluxbox-related bugs in order to make 'Slax Xorg' partly independent; now you can see (even in Fluxbox) accurate (preferred) screen resolution and it plays a start-up sound too." Download (MD5) the live CD from here: slax-6.1.0.iso (191MB, MD5).

Clement Lefebvre has announced the release of Linux Mint 6 "KDE" edition: "On behalf of the team I am thrilled to announce the release of Linux Mint 6 KDE. Based on Kubuntu 8.10 'Intrepid Ibex', Linux kernel 2.6.27, KDE 4.2.0 and X.Org 7.4, Linux Mint 6 'Felicia' KDE Community edition comes with a brand new software manager, FTP support in mintUpload, proxy support and history of updates in mintUpdate, mint4win (a Linux Mint installer for Microsoft Windows), and a lot of other improvements. Linux Mint now uses its own LSB information and no longer identifies itself to applications as Ubuntu. This can potentially break compatibility with some third-party tools. Meta packages were introduced within the repositories to reflect the default selection of packages for the various Linux Mint editions. The artwork now also comes as a package." See the release announcement and release notes for more details. Download (MD5): LinuxMint-6-KDE.iso (1,107MB, torrent).

Clement Lefebvre has announced the release of Linux Mint 6 "Fluxbox" edition, a lightweight variant of the popular Ubuntu-based distribution: "The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 6 Fluxbox Community edition. Linux Mint Fluxbox Community edition is based on Xubuntu 8.10 'Intrepid Ibex', Linux kernel 2.6.27, Fluxbox 1.0.0 and X.Org 7.4. Included is an all-new menu system, Mint-FM2, Slim as a display manager, live CD features that should make it easier to install on low-end machines, a brand new software manager, FTP support in mintUpload, proxy support and history of updates in mintUpdate, mint4win (a Linux Mint installer for Microsoft Windows), and much more minty goodness." Read the rest of the release announcement and release notes for further details. Download (MD5): LinuxMint-6-Fluxbox.iso (613MB, torrent).

Steven Shiau has released a new stable version of Clonezilla Live, a Debian-based live CD designed to clone hard disks and hard disk partitions: "Clonezilla Live 1.2.1-53 (stable) released. This is a bug-fix release with a few improvements. Changes: based on Debian 'Lenny' repository on 2009-04-06; language files were updated; merged the revised language file en_US; options -j2 and -j3 were merged to be a single parameter -j2; now '-g auto' option will run grub-install only when the GRUB configuration partition is on the restored partitions list; ocs-live-dev will use tar instead of zip when recovery file is larger than 2 GB; the prompt to use space key to mark the selection was added to checklist dialog; live-initramfs was patched to work on network booting with 2 or more NICs in the client...." Read the complete release announcement for a more detailed list of updates and bug fixes. Download: clonezilla-live-1.2.1-53.iso (95.2MB, MD5).

Anne Nicolas has announced the availability of the second and final release candidate for Mandriva Linux 2009.1: "The RC2 release of Mandriva Linux 2009.1 is now available. This RC2 provides some updates on major desktop components of the distribution, including KDE 4.2.2, GNOME 2.26, X.Org Server 1.6 and Linux kernel 2.6.29. This release also provides a nearly complete 2009.1 design. It will allow you to transfer all available 'One' hybrid ISOs to a USB key in a very easy way and install Mandriva Linux on netbooks. Five 'One' ISOs are now available to provide KDE and GNOME desktops in a large number of languages. Major update of the X server has been completed and lots of testing is in progress to help improving support for the ATI, Intel and openChrome video drivers." Read the release announcement and release notes for further information. Quick links to download the installable live CDs: mandriva-linux-one-2009.1-rc2-KDE4-europe1-cdrom-i586.iso (682MB, MD5), mandriva-linux-one-2009.1-rc2-GNOME-europe-cdrom-i586.iso (657MB, MD5).

FranÃ§ois Dupoux has announced the release of SystemRescueCd 1.1.7, a Gentoo-based live CD for hard disk management and data rescue tasks. What's new? "Updated the kernels (standard and alternative) to Linux 2.6.27.21; updated NTFS-3G to version 2009.3.8; FSArchiver to 0.4.7 (file systems backup and deployment tool); added gPXE 0.9.6 (Etherboot images boot from network using an image on the CD-ROM); updated the Intel Gigabit e1000 and e1000e network driver in the standard kernel; fixed boot on dmraid and LSI devices; fixed a problem related to the bootdisk images in sysresccd-custom; updated GParted to 0.4.4." See the project's changelog page for more details. Download: systemrescuecd-x86-1.1.7.iso (235MB, MD5).

xPUD is a minimalist live CD which contains a simple user interface with a web browser and a media player, and which boots in under 10 seconds. Version 0.8.9 was released this weekend: "It has been a while since our last update and we are really excited about this new version of xPUD, a fundamentally improved release with lots of new features, including: Linux kernel 2.6.28 applied with fast boot patch from Moblin, full set of tools for network configuration, a totally rewritten build system mkxpud, and our experimental user interface plate which is now shipped as XUL application. Other new features: better hardware support; more powerful Plate user interface, a bunch of handy tools (ifconfig, iwconfig, wpa_supplicant for WiFi setting, wvdial for 3G connection, and ppp, dhclient for Ethernet)." Read the rest of the release announcement for further information and some screenshots. Download (MD5): xpud-0.8.9.iso (48.7MB).

Patrick Verner has released Parted Magic 4.0, a specialist live CD featuring a collection of hard disk management tools: "Parted Magic 4.0. A new release with some exciting new features! Parted Magic now has full support for partitioning Device Mapper RAID partitions. The initrd was completely trashed and Parted Magic now boots from an initramfs. The new initramfs is only about 500 kB and all drivers needed to boot the media are built directly into the kernel. The 'Low RAM' option was changed to boot Xvesa, TWM, and GParted at 800x600x4; it now runs very well on a computer with 64 MB of RAM. You can now 'save session' with the CD version (CD-RW required). The PXE version can merge initramfs for module installation. We also have new artwork in a clean blue theme that matches the look of the new website." Visit the project's home page to read the complete release announcement and changelog. Download: pmagic-4.0.iso.zip (70.9MB, MD5).

Ken Smith has announced that the first beta release of FreeBSD 7.2 is now available for testing: "The first of the test builds for the FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE cycle is now available. Testing of two recent changes to the system would be particularly valuable. The bce(4) network driver was updated a few days ago. And some significant work was done on the threading libraries a short time ago that is known to fix several major issues but testing to see if it introduced any regressions would be appreciated. If you would like to do a source-based update to 7.2-BETA1 from an already installed machine you can update your tree to RELENG_7 using normal cvsup/csup methods. The freebsd-update(8) utility supports binary upgrades of i386 and amd64 systems running earlier FreeBSD releases." Read the rest of the release announcement for more update details and known issues. Download (MD5): 7.2-BETA1-i386-dvd1.iso (2,144MB), 7.2-BETA1-amd64-dvd1.iso (2,235MB).

Point Clark Networks has announced the availability of the second beta release of ClarkConnect 5.0, a specialist distribution for servers and gateways based on CentOS: "ClarkConnect 5.0 Beta 2 is now available. What's new? Beta 2 is certainly more stable, but there are still quite a few rough edges. Along with the usual bug fixes, the beta 2 release has the following significant changes: an update to CentOS 5.3; a change in the package naming convention -- from cc-XYZ to app-XYZ; a first release of the bandwidth manager; content filter changes (anti-virus engine update); a functional print server/queue solution. A general cleanup of the web interface, including form validation, will be completed at a later stage. In addition, you will find the web interface to be slow in some places -- this will be optimized in a future beta release." Read the rest of the release notes for additional details. Download: community-5.0-beta2.iso (617MB, MD5).

Robert Lange has announced the release of VectorLinux 6.0 "Light" edition: "The VectorLinux team is pleased to announce the final release of VL 6.0 Light. Light is aimed at users with some Linux experience. It is biased towards technical simplicity and high performance. Based on VL 6.0 Standard, the most resource hungry applications have been removed or replaced with lighter alternatives. Running services are kept to a minimum. The default user interface is IceWM with PCManFM as your file and desktop manager. The alternate window manager is JWM. Opera provides a fast and standards-compliant web browser with Flash Player 10 and MPlayer plugins, as well as e-mail and BitTorrent clients. Firefox is also available. For local multimedia playback you will find XMMS, GMPlayer and Xine." Read the rest of the release announcement for further information. Download: VL6.0-Light-Final.iso (617MB, MD5).

Mark Spencer has announced the release of AsteriskNOW 1.5.0, a CentOS-based Linux distribution and software appliance that includes Asterisk (the world's leading open-source telephony engine and toolkit), AsteriskGUI, and other software needed for an Asterisk system: "AsteriskNOW 1.5.0 is immediately available for download (existing users can run 'yum update' to keep up with releases, in some rare cases, users may need to run 'yum update glibc' first). Notable changes since beta 2: updated several packages to latest versions (Asterisk, DAHDI, etc); fixed more permissions issues between Asterisk and httpd/FreePBX; updated to CentOS 5.3." Here is the brief release announcement. Download (MD5) the installation CD for i386 or x86_64 processor architectures: AsteriskNOW-1.5.0-i386-1of1.iso (595MB), AsteriskNOW-1.5.0-x86_64-1of1.iso (583MB).

Anil Gulecha has announced the availability of the first release candidate for Nexenta Core Platform 2.0, a base operating system combining the OpenSolaris kernel with Debian utilities and Ubuntu software packages: "This is to announce availability of Nexenta Core Platform 2.0 RC1. The interesting feature addition in this release is experimental 128-bit processor support. We've also fixed many bugs and resolved issues since the last beta. Release highlights: OpenSolaris build 104+ with critical patches; over 13,000 packages in the repository, thanks to the autobuilder; smooth upgrade path from NCP1; community-driven efforts bringing X.Org, Xfce and GNOME Core into the repository; based on Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) repository; SMF support added for server applications like Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Exim; includes Vim and screen by default; includes apt-clone which brings ZFS power to apt-get." Here is the complete release announcement. Download (MD5): nexenta-core-platform_2.0-b104-rc1_x86.iso.zip (499MB).

Karanbir Singh has announced the release of CentOS 5.3, a Linux distribution rebuilt from source package for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3: "We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of CentOS 5.3 for the i386 and x86_64 architectures. CentOS 5.3 is based on the upstream release EL 5.3, and includes packages from all variants, including server and client. This release brings in a completely new artwork stack. Given the widespread requests for user contributed packages directly being hosted within the CentOS repositories, the contribs repository is now back with CentOS 5.3. There are no packages yet, but over the next few weeks we hope to have a policy and process in place that allows users to submit and manage packages in the contribs repository." See the release announcement and release notes for a detailed list of changes. Download (mirror list): CentOS-5.3-i386-bin-DVD.iso (3,787MB, SHA1, torrent), CentOS-5.3-x86_64-bin-DVD.iso (4,346MB, SHA1, torrent).

Warren Willson has announced the release of Puppy Linux 4.2, a fast, user-friendly desktop distribution in 100 megabytes: "Both the 'Standard' and 'Retro' editions of Puppy Linux 4.2 are now available. Puppy 4.2 is the first official version of Puppy Linux without Barry Kauler making the final choices. Features: many tastes catered for with a choice of window managers, either IceWM or JWM, with extra themes, including Clearlooks GTK+ theme engine; optimized SeaMonkey web browser with MonkeyMenu extension; efficient management with Puppy Control Panel; elegant, graphical GRUB boot loader using gfx-boot; stay informed with Pwidgets running desktop programs; audiophiles will be pleased with AlsaPlayer and Pmusic for audio entertainment using the latest audio codecs for .flac, .ogg and .mp3 files; access to Internet radio using streamtuner...." Read the release announcement and release notes for further details. Download: puppy-4.2-k2.6.25.16-seamonkey.iso (100MB, MD5), puppy-4.2retro-k2.6.21.7-seamonkey.iso (101MB, MD5).

Andrew Gillis has announced that availability of the first beta release of trixbox 2.8, a CentOS-based Linux distribution that enables the user to quickly set up a VoIP Asterisk PBX. From the announcement "We have been testing Asterisk 1.6 and DAHDI (the replacement for ZapTel) since they came out last year. Digium has worked hard on 1.6 with a lot of attention paid to reliability and scalability. I am happy to say our testing shows Asterisk 1.6 is ready for prime time! We are still working out what will be in the next major release of trixbox but it's clear Asterisk 1.6 will be part of it. So now we need to get as much real world testing as possible on 1.6. This BETA is trixbox 2.6 with Asterisk 1.6. There are no other new features in the first BETA of trixbox 2.8. We will add more features as we go. The status screen doesn't work in this release so don't be alarmed when it shows Asterisk as stopped." Here is the brief release announcement. Download (MD5): trixbox-2.8.0-BETA.iso (595MB).